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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29272437">Wake Up Your Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiFoxAI/pseuds/ChibiFoxAI'>ChibiFoxAI</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Life and Times of Jaden (Mutou) Yuki [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Details from the Manga, Early Cameos of Other Characters, Established pairings, Female Mutou Yuugi, Female Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Haou is here to ruin everything, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Past Lives, Puzzleship Parents, Some mentions of Arc-V characters, Yubel was never sent to space, Yugi and Atem are Jaden's adoptive Parents, anime based</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:33:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,464</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29272437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiFoxAI/pseuds/ChibiFoxAI</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaden Yuki thought that she had a pretty good life:  adoptive parents who loved her, a boyfriend and significant other who would go to the ends of the Earth for her, an awesome extended family, and a promising career in dueling.</p>
<p>There's also the fact that she has some of her past lives running around in her head and that she can see spirits.</p>
<p>Duel Academy was supposed to be some of the best years of her life, if she could hide who her parents are from the rest of the school to avoid unwanted attention.</p>
<p>...And deal with the fact that there was a group of soul-stealing duelists trying to get their hands on phenomenal cosmic power.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Johan Andersen | Jesse Anderson/Yubel/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Life and Times of Jaden (Mutou) Yuki [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Welcome to Duel Academy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It was sure nice of you to offer to bring Jaden here, if only to save her from the paparazzi.”</p><p>“There’s that, and you know Atem would cause a scene. Remember when Aster went off to that fancy university?”</p><p>Two men, one blond and one brunette, watched as a large helicopter bearing the Duel Academy logo on its doors took off into the sky.</p><p>“Did you ever think she would make it this far, Tristan?” The blond asked his friend.</p><p>Tristan Taylor, executive assistant and best friend of Joey Wheeler, sighed as he wiped away his tears, “We all wanted her to stay local, but even Yugi said that she was ready. It seems like only yesterday we were helping Jaden learn the alphabet and now she’s off to Duel Academy. I’m so proud of her, but sad at the same time.”</p><p>Joey Wheeler, one of the top ten duelists in the world, nodded in agreement. “She’ll be home for the summer so don’t worry. C’mon man, I’ll buy you a drink. I think we both need one right now.”</p><p>“Yeah, sounds great.”</p><p>Joey rolled his eyes as he dragged his friend away from the terminal, “Jaden will be fine, bud. She’s got Yugi’s training, Yubel’s protection, a determined belief in the Heart of the Cards, whatever it is that Kaiba taught her, and every Elemental Hero under the sun to help her. She’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Yeah I guess, but you remember what happened on the island right? How it used to be used for animal research, the mysterious ruins nobody can accurately tell belonged to what civilization, and the fact that an entire dorm went <em>missing</em> in the middle of the night? As her godfather, I want her to like her school years, not have to deal with saving the world every other day like we did. I loved our adventures and wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, but I for one want Jaden to have some normalcy after everything that happened with Atem and especially after everything that happened to her during her time in middle school.”</p><p>“And this is why you are the sane Uncle of the bunch," Joey gave his friend a thumbs up as he waved down a taxi with his other hand, “Don’t worry buddy, Jaden will be <em>fine </em>at school. She did beat one of their teachers for her entrance exam after all. Besides, after everything we did to protect the world I doubt that Jaden will have to worry about anything other than particularly strict teachers.”</p><p>Tristan sighed but nodded, “I hope you’re right about this Joey.”</p><p>“Of course I am. I’m always right.”</p><p>“I don’t even know what to say about that.” </p><hr/><p>
  <em>Dear Mom and Dad, I have only been here for a few hours and already I am hearing spirits chatting and I can feel something on this island. Please send help.</em>
</p><p>Jaden looked down at the red jacket that had been handed to her and sighed as she slipped it on. Since she had been late to the entrance exam, she did not have the time to complete her paperwork and was given the guy’s uniform. She did not mind the gender mix up or the uniform, but what was getting on her nerves and the giggling and whispering from the girls as they passed by to the female student orientation, all of them wearing blue.</p><p>Jaden remembered reading over the information pamphlets after her acceptance letter came in the mail regarding the dorm life on the island. Deep in her heart, she wanted to fly to Domino City and give Kaiba a piece of her mind.</p><p>At the top Obelisk Blue. Obelisk Blue was the dorm that everyone wanted to get into at the Academy. Students got into that dorm mainly through their grades or connections, which meant that it was most likely the rich kid dorm, and for some reason every female that passed the example was sent there as well. </p><p>In the middle of the hierarchy was Ra Yellow. Most of the students from Ra Yellow were those who scored high on their exams and had the potential to get into Obelisk Blue through their own merit.Most of the students in this category also came from the upper middle class or somewhat wealthy new money families.</p><p>Then at the bottom of the barrel was Slifer Red. The students who were sorted into the Red Dorm had low grades, barely passed the mock duel part of the exam, or did not come from well off families. Almost all the students in Slifer Red came from middle or lower class families.</p><p>In Jaden’s case, she was in red because her score was only based on her mock duel against the top professor at the academy and her parents could only afford all of the perks of the Ra Yellow if she had a chance to take the actual paper exam to help bump up her score. If Jaden had been allowed to complete her application in full, she would have automatically been put in the Blue Dorm. Jaden did not mind being in the Red Dorm of course; the fact that she was at Duel Academy at all was enough to make her happy. Plus, the further away from the snobs the better. </p><p><em>Oh well, I look terrible in blue anyway,</em> Jaden thought.  At the moment, she and the twenty nine other students who passed for that year were escorted into a lecture hall for their orientation.</p><p>After standing for a few minutes, the static on the screen in front of them cleared and a bald man with a beard appeared.</p><p>“Good morning and welcome new students! I am Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here at Duel Academy, and you are the best and brightest young duelists in the world! Now please, get yourselves settled in at your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable, depending on how you ranked of course!"</p><hr/><p><strong><em>“That was it for Orientation? Well, at least it was short and sweet,” </em></strong>Yubel chuckled as they wrapped their arms around Jaden’s shoulders. </p><p>
  <em>I know Yubel, but at least we didn’t have to stand for hours and listen about things that are in a handbook that everyone had for at least a month before coming here.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Yes, and if it wasn’t for your father you never would have read it.”</em> </strong>
</p><p>Jaden said nothing but smiled sheepishly as she fiddled with the apps on her school issued PDA. Her seatmate from the helicopter ride, Syrus Trusdale, was also put in Slifer Red like her and the same room to boot, so at least she would have a friend to hang out with between classes.</p><p>There was another boy that she could see herself getting along with, a Ra Yellow named Bastion Misawa. Jaden had seen the last few turns of his duel at the exams and could tell that he was a strong opponent, which made her excited. He seemed a bit posh and stiff, but Jaden was sure that he would come around. </p><p>Then there was the matter of the dorm building itself. It looked like the cheap apartment complex Joey used to live in, but it wasn’t all bad despite Syrus comparing it to an outhouse with balconies. </p><p>Picking up their bags, Jaden and Syrus walked up to the second floor of the dorm building and walked down the balcony until they found the room they were assigned to for the year.</p><p>Opening the door, Jaden squinted her eyes as she looked around the dark room. On the right side of the room was a triple tier bunk bed and by the lump on the top tier it was obvious that somebody was already there. To her left were three work desks that were crammed next to each other. </p><p>Jaden smiled as she walked into the room, “This place looks like a pretty sweet place for a first year pad! With just a few lights and a poster or two, I’m sure this place can look like a home away from home in no time!”</p><p>“Can you two keep it down? I’m trying to nap here!”</p><p>Jaden and Syrus blinked in confusion before turning on the room lights. The lump on the top bunk shifted so now they were looking at their mystery roommate, a large boy with black hair and a rather large nose. </p><p>Jaden flinched at the glare from the other boy while Syrus screamed and hid behind her, “Oh, sorry about that! I’m Jaden and this is Syrus. We’re your new roommates for the year!”</p><p>Chumley raised an eyebrow before turning over, “I’m Chumley. Just keep your move in down, got it? Oh, and wake me when it’s dinner time.”</p><p>Jaden and Syrus looked at each other before shrugging and getting to work on unpacking. Then, a thought hit Jaden as she looked around the room.</p><p>“Hey Chumley, where’s the bathroom?”</p><p>Chumley rolled over and pointed to the door, “We all share one downstairs. You saw that other building at the end of the dorm, right? That’s where the toilets, showers, and standard spring bath are around here. We also have a hot spring spa house across the bridge but you need a high enough GPA to get to use those privileges since we’re the Red Dorm. Under the sink over there are the bins where you can store your bathroom stuff. Just remember to take it with you. Oh, and every month we all donate to a toilet paper fund so make sure you don’t forget or it’s up to you to get your own.”</p><p>It was at that moment that Jaden was regretting not informing the staff of the gender mix up.</p><p>“By the way, we have had a ban on rubber ducks ever since last year. Don’t ask, just follow the rules.”</p><p>“...Thanks. Good to know.”</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“...Rubber ducks?”</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>At this point Yubel, I don’t even want to know. Worst case scenario, I bathe in a river and become the local cryptid.</em>
</p><p><strong> <em>“Your parents would be </em> </strong> <strong>so<em> proud.”</em></strong></p><p>Jaden just rolled her eyes at Yubel’s comment and continued to unpack, “By the way Sy? Dibs on the middle bunk.”</p><p>“Wait, what!?”</p><p>After unpacking, Chumley deemed that since his two roommates were making too much noise he was awake and could not go back to sleep, so he took it upon himself as the oldest student in Slifer Red to show his new roommates around the campus, in exchange for a few snacks from the school store.</p><p>“Y’know, having you two as roommates might now be so bad, especially if I kept some ‘licious food from you every now and again.”</p><p>“Snack runs here too? Oh great, it’s middle school all over again,” Syrus whined as he and Jaden followed Chumley.</p><p>Before Jaden could follow up on Syrus’ comment, she froze and turned in the direction of the academy, “Someone is dueling, I can feel it!”</p><p>“You can feel it-Jaden what are you talking about?”</p><p>“Jaden, wait up!”</p><hr/><p>By the time Syrus and Chumley caught up to Jaden, they were already in a state of the art duel arena. On the dueling stage were two teens dressed in the Obelisk Blue trench coats, one with dark blue hair that fell over his face and glasses while the other had spiky brown hair. </p><p>“Whoa, it looks like all the students could sit in here,” Jaden breathed out. She would watch duels whenever they would come on TV and they used some fancy looking arenas, but to have something this current in the school made it apparent that Kaiba was serious about having the proper resources at his school. </p><p>“Hey, just what are you Slifer flunkies doing here?”</p><p>The Slifer trio turned to see the two Obelisk students from the duel stage walking down the steps and towards them.</p><p>The brunette pointed to a wall behind them, “Didn’t you see the crest? This place is Obelisk turf.”</p><p>His friend nodded, “You’re not welcome here.”</p><p>Syrus panicked and put his hands up, “Sorry, we just got a bit lost. We’ll be going now-”</p><p>That was when the Obelisk with glasses recognized Jaden, “Wait a minute, you’re that one guy.”</p><p>“Hey Chazz, the guy who beat Dr. Crowler is here.” The spiky haired Obelisk called out to someone in the bleachers. </p><p>Another Obelisk Blue student, this time with spiky black hair, sat up and looked over to where his two followers and the Slifer Trio were standing, fixing Jaden in particular with a glare.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Light and Darkness Dragon?</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>“Haou, you okay?”</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Yeah Yubel, it’s… nothing.</em> </strong>
</p><p><em>Rich jerk dude on day one already? Dads, I found my answer to Kaiba, </em>Jaden smiled up at the other boy and smiled, “Hi there, I’m Jaden Yuki. These are my buddies Syrus and Chumley.”</p><p>Chazz lifted an eyebrow before he scoffed and looked away. “If a Slifer Slacker like you was able to beat the Obelisk Dorm Head, then I think the quality of this school has gone downhill. You better not get in my way.”</p><p>“Chazz is the best to come out of duel prep so you better give him the proper respect, got it?”</p><p>“That’s right, out of everyone in this school he’s gonna be the next King of Games! There’s nobody that can use Chthonians and Zombies better than him!”</p><p><em>Oh Mom and Dad are going to LOVE the check in message for tonight</em>, Jaden thought as she gave Chazz a rather unimpressed look. “Yeah, I don’t buy that.”</p><p>Chazz’s glare intensified, “Oh yeah, and why not?”</p><p>Jaden smirked before pointing to herself, “I don’t believe in sharing a throne, especially not with someone like you, thank you very much.”</p><p>Chazz grit his teeth before storming down the bleachers, “And what is that supposed to mean?”</p><p>Jaden shrugged, “It means whatever you think it means.”</p><p>“Let’s settle the matter of succession then, right here and now!” Chazz said as he narrowed his eyes and got out his deck.</p><p>Jaden reached for hers, ignoring her panicking roommates, “Bring it!”</p><p>“Well isn’t this just a motley crew?”</p><p>The group turned around to see a rather attractive girl in an Obelisk Blue girl’s uniform making her way over to them.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Splendid Venus?!</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Haou? Are you sure that you’re okay?</em>
</p><p>Chazz shot the girl a rather flirtatious smile, “Oh, hey Alexis. Want to watch me mop the floor with our little pal Jaden?”</p><p>The girl, Alexis, rolled her eyes, “Get real Chazz. The Obelisk welcoming dinner is starting and you’re running late.”</p><p>Chazz gave Jaden and her friends one last glare before stalking off, “Whatever. Raizou, Taiyou, let’s go.”</p><p>The Slifer trio and Alexis watched as the two other Obelisks obediently followed Chazz out of the arena. Turning to the Red Dorm members, Alexis gave them a rather tight smile.</p><p>“I’m sorry about Chazz, not all of us Obelisk Blue students are like him. He just likes to pick on those he sees under him, especially if they’re Slifers.”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she scratched the back of her head, “It’s no problem. Having to deal with people like him is just part of life.”</p><p>Alexis blinked a few times before smiling and extending her hand, “I’m Alexis, Alexis Rhodes. It’s nice to meet you.”</p><p>Jaden smiled and shook her hand, “I’m Jaden Yuki.”</p><p>Chumley then grabbed Jaden by the shoulder and started dragging her away, “I almost forget, we have to get to dinner too!”</p><p>“It was nice to meet you!” Jaden called out to Alexis as she was dragged off.</p><hr/><p>In the Obelisk Blue Dorm, the students were enjoying a nine course meal. </p><p>In the Girl’s Dorm, the female student body was busy with what appeared to be a cocktail party.</p><p>In the Ra Yellow Dorms, the students were enjoying a five course meal complete with soup, salad, and lobster.</p><p>In the Slifer Red dorms, the students were staring down at their rather simple meal of rice, miso soup, small grilled fish, and a small plate of kamaboko. Many of the students groaned or out right pouted at the meal in front of them.</p><p>“This is our fancy dinner?”</p><p>“I’ve seen hospital food look better than this!”</p><p>“I get that we get our budget slashed the most, but are they so cheap with us that they got us a cat for a Dorm Head?”</p><p>All members of the Slifer Red Dorm turned to the head table to see a fat tabby cat napping on top of the table next to a food tray. The cat then stretched and yawned as it woke up from all of the noise in the meal hall.</p><p>The room quieted down as a tall man with long hair and glasses walked into the room. He smiled and gave a friendly wave to the Slifer Red students, “Good evening everyone, my name is Professor Lyman Banner and I will be your Dorm Head for your stay here at Duel Academy. Now, before we get started I’d like each of you to tell me something about yourselves-”</p><p>The professor was cut off by Jaden’s PDA going off, which caused the girl to freeze as everyone turned to her.</p><p>“Excuse me!” Jaden all but screamed as she ran out of the room, practically juggling the PDA in her hands as it continued to go off.</p><p>The meal hall was quiet for a few seconds after Jaden ran out before Banner sighed and picked up the cat, “Come on Pharaoh, let’s go see what is happening.”</p><p>Professor Banner walked outside to see Jaden looking down at her PDA, eyes furrowed in thought.</p><p>“Is there something wrong?”</p><p>Jaden flinched, startled by the man approaching her from behind. With a sigh, she held her PDA out to the Professor.</p><p>“I think someone is trying to set me up.”</p><p>Banner raised an eyebrow as he took the PDA from Jaden. From what he could tell, his student had received a video message. Tapping the replay option, Banner watched as Chazz Princeton’s face came up on the screen.</p><p>“Hey there Slifer Slacker, the gruel good enough for you? Meet me at the Obelisk Arena tonight at midnight. Oh, and to make it interesting, the winner gets the other guy’s best card.”</p><p>Banner shook his head as he sent the message to his own PDA, “Dueling after hours and an ante duel at that? Both of those are against the school rules and are ground for immediate expulsion. I know that someone like Mr. Princeton would know about these rules.”</p><p>Jaden nodded, “That guy made fun of our dorm just because we aren’t as nice as the other ones, but then again everything he listed can get me expelled. I worked too hard for me to get here just for me to leave after one day!”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it Jaden, I will be talking with the Chancellor,” Banner said as he handed the PDA back. “For now, go get something to eat and get some rest. Something tells me that you will have quite the day tomorrow.”</p><hr/><p>Chancellor Sheppard did his best not to break out into a sweat as Seto Kaiba, the main benefactor and one of the founders of Duel Academy, watched the message that Banner had sent. </p><p>Kaiba and Sheppard had been having their yearly check in meeting when the message came in. While similar incidents had happened in the past, for some reason Seto Kaiba was interested in this particular incident. According to Crowler, Kaiba himself had even called the day of the exams and demanded that Jaden Yuki specifically be allowed to take the entrance exam. With so little time left, Jaden only had time for the duel portion, which landed the mysteriously connected student in Slifer Red due to only having taken half of the exam.</p><p>“Chancellor Sheppard, if this Obelisk Blue student really wants to duel Jaden Yuki, let him do so in front of the whole school. I’m sure the students would love an exhibition match.”</p><p>Sheppard‘s eyes widened at Kaiba’s suggestion, “Are you sure Mr. Kaiba? While young Jaden did amazing in his duel, Chazz Princeton was the top of his year-”</p><p>“Yeah, keyword here is ‘was’, Chancellor. If that boy is going to be an Obelisk Blue, he needs to be able to put his money where his mouth is and do the academy proud. Have the two of them duel tomorrow. Depending on the outcome, Duel Academy might be seeing some… additional donations in the future. Good night.”</p><p>Sheppard sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a few minutes in meditation before picking up his phone, “Crowler, this is Chancellor Sheppard. I want you and Chazz Princeton in my office immediately. I don’t care how late it is, just get in here now.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Rivalry Emerges</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chazz gave a brief scream of rage as he punched a wall upon waking up. He had been practically dragged by Crowler to the Chancellor’s office the night before thanks to the Slifer Dorm Head giving the Sheppard the heads up about his plan to duel Jaden. Thankfully, he had been let off with a rather stern warning since it was his first day. If his brothers found out about the incident, they would no doubt have his head!</p><p>He seethed as he sat on his bed, cradling his head in his hands for a few brief seconds before breaking out into laughter. On second thought, this was a better situation; now he could duel the Slifer Slacker in front of the entire school and bring him down a peg in front of everyone!</p><p>Meanwhile on the other side of the island, morning could not come quick enough for Jaden, who spent most of the night pacing in excitement until Syrus and Chumley threatened to tie her to her mattress.</p><p>Just before Jaden had left her room, she quickly dug around her desk for a camcorder, handing it to Syrus on their way into the duel arena, “I promised my parents that I would try to get some of my duels recorded for them. Think you can be my cameraman, Syrus?”</p><p>Syrus looked at the camcorder that had been handed to him before looking back at Jaden and nodding, “I’ll do it! If my parents were interested in my duels like they are my brothers duels, I wouldn’t want them to miss a single one!”</p><p>Jaden grinned at her friend’s answer, “Thanks a ton, Sy! My parents are going to flip when they see this duel!”</p><p>Syrus smiled as Jaden explained how the small machine worked while the two of them walked to the main campus.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong> <em>“Let me face him, Jaden. He tried to get you in trouble, expelled even. I want a crack at him.”</em> </strong>
</p><p>Jaden shook her head at Yubel’s spirit as she waited to be called out to the arena, “Only if I have to, Yubel. I still want to keep you a secret until I find a good enough rival.”</p><p>Yubel rolled their eyes at Jaden’s statement, but they knew that this meant that Jaden was considering the offer. Before Yubel could answer, they were cut off by Chancellor Sheppard’s announcement. Looking out into the arena, Jaden and Yubel could see the Chancellor was standing in the middle of the duel stage with a microphone along with Crowler and Banner.</p><p>“Good morning Duel Academy and welcome to your first official day of school. How is everyone feeling today?”</p><p>A few students cheered, a few clapped and one whistled, but most of the students were either half asleep or were not feeling the school spirit so early in the semester.</p><p>“Yes, well, we have quite the treat for you this morning. As per the request of our school’s sponsors, we will have an exhibition duel today between the two freshmen with the highest scores from the mock duel exam!”</p><p>Instantly, the students were interested in the event.</p><p>Crowler cleared his throat before dramatically motioning to one side of the arena, “Coming to you straight from the Obelisk Blue Dorm, I am proud to present to you Chazz Princeton!”</p><p>Jaden tried not to roll her eyes as all of the Obelisk students and a good majority of the Ra Yellow section cheered as Chazz made his way into the arena and onto the stage.</p><p>Banner in turn smiled and motioned to entrance Jaden would be using, albeit with less flair than Crowler, “Students of Duel Academy, it is my great pleasure to welcome the opposing duelist. Please give a warm welcome to Jaden Yuki of Slifer Red!”</p><p>Jaden gave a small smile when she heard the Slifers and a few Ra Yellow’s cheer for her as she made her way in, but the silence and smug looks from Chazz’s supporters made her want to forget Yubel’s complaint and just get it over with.</p><p>Jaden and Chazz shook hands when they got to the middle of the stage, as per Sheppard’s suggestion. The Chancellor then reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin with the Duel Academy logo on one side and blank on the other.</p><p>“To determine who goes first, we will flip a coin. Please call heads or tails.”</p><p>“Heads!” Chazz said as soon as the Chancellor finished.</p><p>Jaden shrugged, “I’m fine with tails.”</p><p>Sure enough, the coin landed on what was considered ‘heads’ or the Duel Academy logo.</p><p>Jaden and Chazz made their way to their ends as the staff members walked off the stage and made their way to the teacher’s section of the audience.</p><p>“Scared, slacker?” Chazz taunted as he activated his disk.</p><p>“You wish,” Jaden scoffed as she activated hers.</p><p>“Duelists ready? Start!”</p><p>The screens in the arena lit up with a picture of each duelist along with a count of their respective Life Point count.</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  4000 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000 LP</strong>
</p><p>“My move, draw!” Chazz said as he drew a card from his deck. Looking over what he drew and what was already in his hand, Chazz made his move. </p><p>“I summon Reborn Zombie (1000/1600) in Defense Mode and set one card face down. End turn.”</p><p>“Well that’s one way to start a duel,” Jaden said as she drew a card. Looking at what she pulled, Jaden smiled, “Hope you don’t mind me starting off with a bigger bang. First, I play one card facedown in my Spell and Trap Zone. Next, I play Polymerization and fuse Elemental HERO Avian (1000/1000) and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix (1200/800) from my hand to create Elemental HERO Flame Wingman (2100/1200) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>Chazz laughed, “I was hoping you would do that!”</p><p>Jaden raised an eyebrow “Oh, and why is that?” </p><p>“Remember that card I placed face down? Well, it was a Trap called Chthonian Polymer. Thanks to it, I get to send Reborn Zombie to the Graveyard and take control of one of your fusions, in this case your Flame Wingman!”</p><p>Jaden winced as Flame Wingman’s hologram sank into the ground before her and appeared on Chazz’s side of the field.</p><p>“You're so predictable Jaden! You kept going on about your Flame Wingman at the exam! What are you going to do now that your best monster is on my field, huh?”</p><p>Jaden smirked before activating her face down Trap Card, “Sorry Chazzy, but Flame Wingman is staying with me. I activate the Trap Card Remove Brainwashing! Thanks to this card, Flame Wingman comes back to my side of the field, and to top it all off it’s a continuous trap too so my monsters will be fighting only for me from here on out.”</p><p>Chazz growled as Flame Wingman gave him a rather sarcastic looking salute with his non-draconic hand and flew back over to Jaden’s side of the field.</p><p>“Now get this, since Flame Wingman was a Special Summon, I can still Normal Summon another monster to my side of the field, and I choose Elemental HERO Sparkman (1600/1400) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>A blue and yellow hero showed up on the field in a burst of lightning. Looking over at Chazz, the hero beat his fist into an open palm, showing that he meant business.</p><p>Jaden smiled and pointed at Chazz, “Too bad you put all your hopes in that one card Chazz, because now you’re wide open! Since Flame Wingman already had a go at you and can’t attack again, I’ll have Sparkman attack you instead. Say good-bye to your Life Points, Mr. Obelisk Blue! Go, Static Shockwave!!”</p><p>The supposed next King of Games could only watch in horror as the blue and gold monster started forming a ball of lightning in his hands.</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  2400 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000 LP</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Crowler could only look on in horror as his top first year student was almost at the halfway mark of his Life Points the second turn of the duel.</p><p>“He has to be cheating! There is no way a Slifer can be this good!”</p><p>“I beg to differ.”</p><p>Crowler turned to Banner, who was calmly stroking his pet cat, Pharaoh, “You see Dr. Crowler, Chazz’s little friends let slip that Chazz used a Chthonian-based deck and since Chazz already knew about Jaden’s deck due to the entrance exams, it was only natural they structured their decks to counter each other. But of course, if Jaden adjusting her deck to counter Chthonians is cheating, then Mr. Princeton would get the same punishment for adjusting the Zombie deck he used in the entrance exams to Chthonians to counter Jaden. Does that sound fair to you, Velian?”</p><p>Crowler could only bite at his handkerchief in rage, “Damn you Lyman!”</p><hr/><p>Chazz looked and frowned. He only had 2400 Life Points left and if he didn’t act fast, then the Slifer Slacker was going to win in the next turn or so. </p><p>Drawing a card, he smirked as he revealed it, “Time for me to show you what a real duelist is like. First, I summon Chthonian Soldier (1200/1400) in Attack Mode. Next, I activate my own Trap Card, Call of the Haunted. In case you don’t know, Call of the Haunted is a continuous trap that lets me Special Summon one monster in Attack Mode from my Graveyard per turn, and since he’s the only one in there I’ll be bringing back Reborn Zombie!”</p><p>Jaden narrowed her eyes as the half rotted monster appeared on the field. <em>Chazz could have tribute summoned for something bigger, so why didn’t he? I know the main purpose of a Zombie-Chthonian deck is to bring out a bigger monster each turn from how Dad would have me practice with them, so why didn’t he do that?</em></p><p>“Now,  I play the Spell Card Raigeki, which destroys all the monsters on your side of the field! Say goodbye to your precious heroes, Jaden!”</p><p>Jaden shielded herself as two bolts of lightning struck down her monsters. <em>Okay, I can see where this is going.</em></p><p>“Since your side of the field looks a little lonely, let me send my friends over to play and return the favor. I attack directly with Chthonian Soldier and Mefist the Infernal General!”</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  2400 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1800 LP</strong>
</p><p>Chazz smirked as the crowd cheered behind him, relieved at the turn of events, <em>Jaden’s main beat-stick is gone and there is no way he would have a card with as good of an effect as Flame Wingman. Elemental HERO decks are dependent on Spells and Fusions and I doubt he’s smart enough to have another Polymerization in his deck! All I have to do now is tribute summon one of my other monsters in my next turn and he’s toast!</em></p><p>Jaden narrowed her eyes at her opponent, doing everything in her power to make sure they did not turn gold as the heckling from Chazz’s supporters became louder. She was then brought out of her thoughts by a soft noise coming from her hand.</p><p>
  <em>“Kuri kuri!”</em>
</p><p>Looking at her hand, Jaden watched as Winged Kuriboh’s art changed so he now had a pink background and was winking at her.</p><p>Jaden smiled and drew a card, smirking at her next card, “Alright, here we go! I play the Spell Card Monster Reborn! Now I can choose any monster in the Graveyard and bring them back to the field, and I choose Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!”</p><p>Chazz watched as the Graveyard slot on Jaden’s Duel Disk glowed and Flame Wingman returned to the field. Looking at his hand, Chazz tried to find a card that could get him out of the situation, but all he had were monster cards whose effects could only be triggered when they were Normal Summoned onto the field. He then paled as he started to mentally calculate the damage he would take even without the Elemental Hero’s Special Effect.</p><p>“No, no no no! I can’t lose! Not to a Slifer Slack- AHHHH!” </p><p>Chazz could only cry out in horror as his monster was destroyed, along with the last of his Life Points.</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  0 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1800 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Winner: Jaden Yuki</strong>
</p><p>“It was a gamble there for a sec, but I think I made a good first impression,” Jaden saluted Chazz as his Life Points hit zero, smiling all the way. “And that’s game Chazz. Thanks for the warm up.”</p><p>The arena was silent for a few seconds as everyone processed that a Slifer Red had just beaten the top first year from Obelisk Blue, only for the silence to be broken by Chumley jumping out of his seat in joy.</p><p>“Jaden won! Jaden Yuki from Slifer Red won against an Obelisk Blue!”</p><p>Soon the noise in the arena became deafening as the entirety of Slifer Red started cheering at the top of their lungs. Maybe there was hope for them yet.</p><p>And that hope's name was Jaden Yuki.</p><hr/><p>Seto Kaiba smirked as he looked over the footage that had been sent to him by Chancellor Sheppard, a small bark of laughter escaping him as Jaden finished off the Princeton boy. He never liked the Princeton family all that much, especially the older brothers Slade and Jagger. The two were idealists whose plans never truly made it past the initial planning stages when it came to taking over the global economy and duelist circuit, but they did make a few good investments such as their brother’s cards. </p><p>“It seems that cashing in that favor was one of the best things you ever did,” Seto mused as he started typing up an email to Sheppard. “It’s too bad that for all the money they have, the Princeton family doesn't know how to create a secured deck strategy.”</p><p>“Oh like you’re one to talk, Kaiba,” Yugi said as she rolled her eyes at her friend and sorta-boss. </p><p>Seto stopped typing his email to raise an eyebrow at the current Queen of Games, “Does the term ‘Seal of Orichalcos’ ring a bell?”</p><p>“We don’t talk about that.”</p><p>“Why? Is it because you-”</p><p>“We don’t talk about it because it just came completely out of nowhere and nothing that happened during that time really had a lasting impact. It was more like a one and done thing.”</p><p>“...True. Well, at least I was able to absorb Dartz’s company into my own, so I take that as the sole good thing that came out of that adventure.”</p><p>“Still, that was a bit of a risky gamble against a zombie deck, though to be fair the Princeton boy was relying mostly on Jaden’s status in Slifer Red to judge her skills. Looks like Atem will be tutoring her more on that when she comes to visit for winter break,” Yugi sighed as she looked at the still frame of Jaden being carried out of the arena on the shoulders of her dorm mates. “Hey Seto, did you ever think that Jaden would have ever made it this far? I mean, we all helped in some way but I just get the feeling that Jaden wouldn’t be as… you know.”</p><p>Seto regarded the still of the grinning girl before shaking his head, “Jaden is a capable duelist. While we did give her a nudge in the right direction, I’m sure she could have made it to an extent without us.”</p><p>“Wow, that’s high praise coming from you.”</p><p>“Don’t you have a husband to go worry about?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Set Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a week since Jaden had beaten Chazz in front of the whole school and life was starting to get better at Slifer Red dorm. Banner had his proposal for an extension approved due to some surprise funds being donated by Seto Kaiba and some of the other students from mainly Ra Yellow were starting to come around to the Slifer Red students. It soon became common to see students wearing red and yellow sitting together during free periods or having friendly duels with the opponents shouting tips to one another.</p><p>On the other hand, things were not boding well for the Obelisk Blue dorm. After some investigation, the dorm had some of its funding slashed due to Chazz’s defeat being proof of it not being well invested and how there was a discrepancy of what was being bought versus how much was actually being spent.</p><p>Crowler growled as he made his way out of the teacher’s lounge, ignoring the stares and snickers from the rest of the faculty. There had been some rumors swirling about the Obelisk Blue dorm ever since Jaden had defeated Chazz and a majority of them were not good. </p><p>That day’s class had only been the cherry on top of his no-good start of the semester. Every Obelisk student he had called on in class that day was able to flawlessly answer his questions. Then he decided to pick the runt of the Slifers in the class, Syrus Trusdale, to explain what a Field Spell was and all the brat could do was stutter. After thinking he had put the Slifers back in their place, Jaden had made a comment about how she defeated Crowler during the mock duel exam that made him, Doctor Crowler, the laughing stock of the classroom. </p><p>The Head of Obelisk Blue seethed as he made his way to the library for some quiet time, trying to plan his next move to get rid of a certain red thorn in his side. Upon walking in, he saw Jaden walking out.</p><p>“And just where do you think you’re going, Ms. Yuki? Don’t you have gym class right about now?”</p><p>Jaden looked at her teacher and shook her head, “I can’t participate in gym class due to health reasons, teach. Just ask the school nurse to verify it. I got a free period to burn.”</p><p>Crowler’s lips pursed as he looked at the book on top of the small stack Jaden was preparing to check out. It was small, pink, and had hearts all over the cover. “Dare I ask what that book is for?”</p><p>Jaden ducked her head and blushed, “Let’s just say that there are some things about love that I need advice on, and I can’t talk to my parents about since they would have a bit of a... biased opinion, Dad especially.”</p><p>A plan instantly popping to mind, Crowler smirked before setting the pink book to the side, “Check out the rest of those books and follow me. I know enough about love and loss to be able to give a neutral stance.”</p><p>Jaden’s eyes lit up, “Really? Mr. Crowler, you’re the best!”</p><p>“It’s Doctor Crowler, please. I worked hard on my PhD you know.”</p><hr/><p>“Now Jaden, tell me what is troubling you. We may have had a rough start, but I don’t think that should affect any kind of professional relationship we would have during your time here. Now, I can tell something has got you down so please, let me help you.”</p><p>Crowler had led Jaden to an empty classroom with both of them sitting at the rows that served as the desks.</p><p>Jaden fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt before taking a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds, and letting it out. “Doctor Crowler, hypothetically speaking if you’re in a relationship with someone and all of a sudden they stop talking to you, what would you do? Hypothetically of course.”</p><p>Crowler paused for a second and tapped a finger on his lips, looking like he was thinking of an answer, “Well, if someone were to stop talking to me and I know that I did nothing wrong, I would think that the person hated me. If I could not get to the bottom of it, then I would have to cut my losses and move on.”</p><p>Jaden teared up and bit down a few sobs.</p><p>Crowler gave Jaden a look of fake concern, “Of course, this is all hypothetical correct?”</p><p>Jaden looked down at her lap, “If what you’re saying is true, then does this mean Jess hates me?”</p><p><em>Bingo, a girl’s name! </em>Crowler squashed down the urge to smile victoriously in favor of giving Jaden a few sympathetic pats on the back. “Now Jaden, what makes you think that Jesse hates you? Jess is short for Jessie, correct?”</p><p>Jaden sniffed before wiping her tears away, “You see Doc, Jess is my sweetheart, but we can’t talk much since I’m here and Jess travels a whole lot even during school, but ever since I got to Duel Academy I’ve gotten nothing but radio silence. I mean, I know I’m just a teenager and things like this don’t last all that often but I never thought it would end like this! It hurts even more since we were friends for a long time before taking the next step too.”</p><p>Crowler forced his expression into one of pity and gave Jaden a small pack of tissues from his pocket, “There there now, wipe your face. If this Jesse can't see what an amazing person you are, then you’re better off with someone else. It’s like I always say, ‘Love is like a big Ancient Gear Golem’ because true love is a rare and powerful thing, but even it has a few kinks in the armor.”</p><p>Jaden nodded and wiped her face, “Thanks for the pep talk Doctor Crowler. You’re actually a really cool dude.”</p><p>Crowler gave a wide toothed smile before ushering Jaden off, “To class with you young scholar. Just think about what I said and don’t let your Jesse get you down, okay?”</p><p>Jaden nodded as she picked up her books and left the classroom, completely missing the evil smile Crowler had on his face.</p><p>Crowler all but ran to his office when Jaden’s footsteps had disappeared from earshot. Rummaging through his desk until he found a quill, some ink, and a piece of parchment paper, the blond man gnawed on the tip of the feather as inspiration struck him.</p><p>“To the cutest boy in Slifer Red..”</p><hr/><p>Jaden walked back to her dorm feeling slightly better than she had earlier that day, staring down at her PDA’s practically empty email inbox. She had a few messages from her Mom and her friends, but still none from Jesse. </p><p>Jaden sighed before taking a deep breath and holding her head up high. So what if Jesse was planning on dumping her? She still had Yubel at her side and now she could just focus more on dueling now! Yeah, that was it!</p><p>Upon walking to her dorm room, she spotted an envelope covered in lipstick marks taped to her door. Taking the note and opening it, Jaden skimmed through the message.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>To the cutest boy in Slifer Dorm,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Word has it that you need a little more love in your life. Since the moment I first saw you, I’ve been in love with you. Meet me tonight behind the girl’s dorm.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Endearingly,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Alexis Rhodes</em>
</p><p> </p><p><em>Okay, there is no way that this letter is for me. I’m loved enough as is thanks to that duel with Chazz</em>, Jaden thought as she looked at the letter for a few more seconds before shoving it back into the envelope and walking into her room, “Hey Syrus, hope you don’t mind but I think I accidentally opened your mail!”</p><p>Syrus blinked as Jaden came in the room waving an opened envelope that was practically pink from all the lipstick marks and what appeared to be the letter that was once inside it.</p><p>“Really? What is it?”</p><p>Jaden handed the letter to her roommate, “Well, I think it’s a love letter. Says it’s from Alexis.”</p><p>Syrus’ eyes nearly fell out of his skull as he practically snatched up the letter and read it to himself, “Alexis likes <em>me</em>? ME?! Oh man, Mom was right about me getting all the good looks!”</p><p>Chumley raised an eyebrow at the last statement when something caught his eye, “Hey, what’s that on the back?”</p><p>Syrus stopped his celebration to turn over the letter, “It says ‘Love is like an Ancient Gear Golem’, whatever that means.”</p><p>Jaden gasped and took the letter to read over the sentence, “That’s the advice Crowler gave to me today about my love life!”</p><p>Syrus and Chumley paused for a few seconds before looking over at Jaden in disbelief.</p><p>“You have a love life?” they asked in unison.</p><p>Jaden nodded. “I have a boyfriend, you know.”</p><p>At this point Syrus dropped the letter and Chumley fell out of his bunk before scrambling back up. “What do you mean you have a boyfriend?!”</p><p>“Wow you guys really are in sync. Yeah, I got a boyfriend. His name is Jesse, but I haven’t heard a single word out of him since I got here, so Crowler gave me the advice on the letter.”</p><p>Syrus deflated, “Then this letter wasn’t for me, it was meant as a prank on you.”</p><p>Chumley then examined the envelope and cringed, “The lip stains on this are way too big to belong to a teenage girl. I think it was a guy trying to pull your leg Jaden.”</p><p>Jaden pulled a face and pointed to the trash can, “Please burn that.”</p><p>“No need to tell me twice.”</p><p>As Chumley got up to throw away the letter and envelope, Syrus looked back at Jaden, “So, boyfriend?”</p><p>Jaden smiled and nodded, “Yup! Jesse is a friend of a family friend so we would hang out at parties and stuff in middle school. Then, we started a long-distance relationship since he doesn’t live all that close. Last I checked, he was at North Academy.”</p><p>Syrus slowly nodded, “Well if that’s the case, then North Academy’s communications have been on the fritz because of a snowstorm so don’t worry about Jesse hating you. He should be getting back to you sometime tomorrow.” </p><p>Jaden gave a sigh of relief before ruffling her friend’s hair, “Thanks Sy, you sure know how to make a girl feel better.”</p><p>“Yeah, well it’s no problem- what do you mean girl?”</p><p>Jaden pointed to herself, “I’m a girl, my dude.”</p><p>“...Wait WHAT?”</p><p>Syrus scrambled back while Chumley stood frozen by the trash can.</p><p>Jaden rolled her eyes, “Before you ask, my family doesn’t make enough money to qualify for all the perks of Obelisk life since they have all those country club dues for things like imported foods and all those room service treatments.  What does help is that my form was filled out for me at the exam by the aides so they heard my name and most likely thought that I was a guy, plus my entrance score was based solely on my duel with no paper test to add as fluff. I don’t exactly mind though, this place kinda feels like home!”</p><p>Chumley raised an eyebrow at the last statement before folding his arms, “So, are you wearing a binder or something? I heard that wearing one for long periods of time isn’t good for some people.”</p><p>Jaden shook her head, “Nah, sports bra. Better than an actual bra when it comes to all the running we have to do to and from the main building. Helps that I’m not all that stacked anyway so it looks like I have pecs instead of tits.”</p><p>Syrus blushed and covered his face in embarrassment, “Can we please talk about something else? Like, anything at all?”</p><p>A melody started coming from Jaden’s computer, causing the girl to brighten, “That’s Jesse’s ringtone!”</p><p>“...You gave your boyfriend a special ringtone for instant messenger?”</p><p>“I have one for my best friend too.”</p><hr/><p>Crowler smirked as he cut the chain keeping the dock gate closed and stealthily leapt from bush to bush, getting as close to the girl’s dorm as he would allow himself. The point of the plan was to get Jaden expelled, not get himself put into more hot water. </p><p>Speaking of hot water, Crowler turned his eyes towards the bathing hall just a few yards away from the docks. His plan was perfect! Once Jaden arrived looking for Alexis, Crowler would pop out of the bushes and snap a photo of the boy breaking campus policy! </p><p>On top of that, if Jaden’s sweetheart found out about the grounds for expulsion then that would make his revenge all the sweeter!</p><hr/><p>
  <em>“Seriously Jay, you just now told your roomies about us? Here I thought you cared about me.”</em>
</p><p>Jaden laughed as she scratched the back of her head, “Well, I was waiting for a right time and all. Anyway Jesse, meet Syrus and Chumley!”</p><p>A blue haired boy on the screen in front of them waved at the two others, <em>“Howdy guys, it’s nice to meet you!”</em></p><p>Chumley awkwardly waved back while Syrus gaped at Jesse.</p><p>
  <em>“Hey Jay, is your little buddy okay there? He looks like he’s trying to become a catfish.”</em>
</p><p>“Jesse ANDERSON is your BOYFRIEND?” Syrus hissed.</p><p>Jaden nodded, “Yup, that’s right. What’s with all the stink-eye about my beau?”</p><p>
  <em>“Beau? Aw Jay, you’re making me blush.”</em>
</p><p>Syrus scowled at his roommate, “Jesse Anderson is the current champion of the Pegasus South Tournament, Jaden! There hasn’t been anyone as skilled as him when it comes to building and dueling with insect decks since Weevil Underwood!”</p><p>“Anyone is better than Weevil Underwood when it comes to dueling using insect decks, Syrus.”</p><p>Syrus’ glared deepened, “That’s not the point, Jay! Jesse was hand picked by Pegasus himself to take ownership of the one-of-a-kind Crystal Beast cards, and he’s basically Pegasus’ heir apparent since the guy doesn’t have kids of his own! Your boyfriend is famous and you didn’t tell us?!”</p><p>Jaden shrugged, “I don’t care about that kind of stuff. Jesse is kind, smart, thoughtful, and funny to boot so that’s enough for me to love him even without all the glitz and glamor."</p><p>Jesse sniffled in good nature, making it evident that Jaden had said all of this before but still touched Jesse’s heart nonetheless, <em>“Aw Jay, you’re gonna make me cry.” </em></p><p>Jaden smiled at Syrus before turning back to her boyfriend, “So babe, how are things up in North Academy? Did you get my videos?”</p><p>
  <em>“I sure did! You blew that dude away at your opening ceremony!”</em>
</p><p>“I know, right? Did you have to do anything like that?”</p><p>
  <em>“Does not getting eaten by a polar bear sound up your alley? I’m serious, Jaden. I was chased by a polar bear my first day here.”</em>
</p><p>Jaden could only laugh as her boyfriend walked her through the events of his rather disastrous first day at North Academy.</p><hr/><p>The next morning, Crowler’s class was cancelled due to the man reportedly coming down with a cold, but in reality he had stayed up until sunrise waiting for Jaden to come only to get nothing. The bags under his eyes would raise some questions during class and with his mind only functioning at half capacity due to lack of sleep, he was not going to chance giving himself away.</p><p>“Curse that Jaden Yuki,” Crowler hissed to himself from the comfort of his bed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Raring to Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been close to a week since Jaden had told her roommates about her actual gender and introduced them to her boyfriend. It had taken Syrus a day or two to completely process all of the information, but it seemed like Chumley was accepting of it right off the bat.</p><p>Things went on as before, but at least Jaden was a little less secretive about her life now. She talked with Jesse every other day, letting him initiate the conversations since she did not know what North Academy’s connection was like at any given time, and slowly the other boy was starting to become friends with his girlfriend’s roommates. She emailed her moms and dads every day, who in turn sent Syrus and Chumley messages thanking them for taking care of Jaden and promised them care packages.</p><p>Unfortunately, nothing could help them when it came to promotion exam time. </p><p>Sitting in front of the Slifer the Sky Dragon poster every Slifer Red dorm room had, Syrus tied a headband with three Monster Reborn cards attached to it to his head and prayed to the poster.</p><p>“Please, please let me ace my exams today or I'll be stuck wearing this red blazer forever!" Syrus prayed to the Slifer poster. "Not that there's anything wrong with red, it's great on you, Slifer! I wanna be in Ra Yellow and show everyone what I am made of! Please, give me a sign that you'll help!"</p><p>Syrus shrieked as an alarm clock went off behind him. As he ran over to stop the ringing, Syrus looked into Jaden’s empty bunk and frowned, “Hey Chumley, where is Jaden?”</p><p>Chumley smiled down at Syrus, “Oh, she said that she was going into the woods this morning to make a sacrifice to Athena to help her pass the exam today. She’s good at dueling but paper tests aren’t her strong suit.”</p><p>Syrus groaned and rested his head on the bunk, “An actual sacrifice to a god? Why didn’t I think of-wait, what exactly is she sacrificing?”</p><p>“Apparently she was going to burn an entire container of animal crackers in some sort of mock animal sacrifice. Some of the others went with her.”</p><p>“No wonder it’s so quiet this morning.”</p><p>As Syrus and Chumley ran to the main building, they came across Jaden and a few other of the Slifer Red students helping a woman push a truck up a hill.</p><p>“Jaden, what are you guys doing?”</p><p>Jaden smiled, “Hey there Syrus! We’re helping Ms. Dorothy here with her truck since it died on her. You go on ahead and we’ll meet you later, okay? Banner already knows what we’re doing and said he would let us take the paper exam at the end of today during his detention block.”</p><p>“...How does he know what you are doing?”</p><p>“He came with us to the Athena snackrifice thing. Said something about needing the patience of the Gods to grade the tests today.”</p><p>Syrus hesitated a nod but started running again towards the building. “Man Jay, you really are lucky.”</p><hr/><p>Syrus cried as he, Jaden, and a few others along with the late Slifers walked to the Academy’s card shop. Syrus had fallen asleep during his exam and did not have a chance to look over his answers and on top of that he most likely would not get a chance to even get some new cards. Upon reaching the card shop, the group could only look around in dread when they saw that all the rare new cards were gone.</p><p>Jaden looked over at one of her new friends, “By the way Bastion, why didn’t you go with the others for some new cards?”</p><p>Bastion rolled his eyes, “Oh please, one errant card and my deck’s delicate balance would be completely thrown off.”</p><p>“You could have bought one and saved it for us!” Syrus whined.</p><p>Running up to the counter, Jaden waved over the employee at the counter, “Excuse me, but are there any packs left?”</p><p>The girl sighed and set a pile of regular card packs on the counter, “All we got are regular packs. Somebody came in and bought all of the new packs and rare cards this morning.”</p><p>A few of the Slifers glared at Jaden. “Nice going Boss.”</p><p>“I didn’t ask you to come to the morning prayer circle snackrifice, you know!”</p><p>“Well, we’re not out of card packs exactly.”</p><p>The group of students looked around Jaden to see Ms. Dorothy smiling at them, “I had a feeling I would be seeing you all, so I exercised my right as the owner to hold onto a few packs for all of you as thanks for helping me with my truck.”</p><p>The Slifers stopped glaring at Jaden and instead hugged her as much as they could, “We’ll follow you to the ends of the Earth, Boss!”</p><p>“Bet you’re all counting yourselves lucky that you came to the morning prayer circle, huh? Told you Athena would give us glory.”</p><p>Bastion raised an eyebrow, “Just what on Earth is Jaden talking about?”</p><p>Syrus gave the Ra Yellow student a hard stare before shaking his head, “I don’t know the specifics, but I think Jaden might have started a cult, or at least started a new chapter of whatever religion that still worships a combination of the Egyptian and Greco-Roman Pantheon nowadays.”</p><p>“Really now? Fascinating,” Bastion deadpanned as the Slifer Reds started trading around cards and preparing their decks.</p><p>“Yeah, at least I think it is since Jaden doesn’t identify as wiccan last I asked.”</p><p>“...So how does one join this cult?”</p><p>“Bastion. Why?”</p><p>“Well, given the amount of sheer luck Jaden has had ever since I met him I am intrigued as to where it all comes from.”</p><p>“Cults aren’t friendship circles, Bastion.”</p><p>Bastion looked from Syrus to the other Slifer Reds, almost envious of the string bracelets around their wrists, “...Aren’t you all wearing friendship bracelets?”</p><p>Syrus held his wrist close to his chest, “That’s not the point!”</p><p>“Won’t that make it harder to face each other?”</p><p>“Kind of, but knowing Jaden she’ll probably get someone who isn’t a fan. For some reason not all the Slifers are fond of Jaden since now everyone expects the Slifers to put in more effort because of the duel against Chazz, but that's just mostly the stray second and third years besides Chumley.”</p><hr/><p>“Way to go, Syrus. You just had to jinx Jaden,” Chumley deadpanned.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, Jay!” Syrus cried from behind the camcorder.</p><p><em>You know, I think that I spoke too soon about this guy being my version of Kaiba</em>, Jaden thought as she stared at Chazz with a bored expression, “So you’re really that eager for round two? Well then, get your game on Chazz!”</p><p>The coin was tossed and landed on the ‘tails’ side, which was just the coin’s blank red side.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  4000 LP</strong>
</p><p>Jaden smiled as she drew her first card of the duel and heard a familiar ‘kuri kuri’ coming from her hand.</p><p>“I summon Elemental HERO Clayman (800/2000) in Defense Mode. End turn.”</p><p>Chazz smirked as he drew his card, “Get ready for this Jaden, because this card is hot off the presses, I play the Spell Card Magical Mallet.”</p><p><em>Okay, now I know who got all of those rare cards from this morning</em>, Jaden scowled at her opponent, “Care to play by the rules and explain to the audience about what it does?”</p><p>“I’d love to. You see, Magical Mallet is my own personal redo. I take every card that I don’t want in my hand and put it back in my deck, shuffle, and draw again. And do you know what the best part is? Magical Mallet goes back into my hand after I play it so I can keep on using it until I get what I want, like this! I summon V-Tiger Jet (1600/1800) in Attack Mode!”</p><p><em>Oh, please tell me that he is not going to do what I think he’s going to do, </em>Jaden’s eyes narrowed as Chazz summoned a yellow tiger shaped jet to the field. She had joked to herself about Chazz being like Kaiba but now she had a feeling that she was even more on the nose about her assumption than she initially realized.</p><p>“Now, I activate Frontline Base. Now once per turn, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Union Monster from my hand, so I summon W-Wing Catapult (1300/1500) in Attack mode.”</p><p>Chazz then grinned as he placed two cards in a slot on his duel disk, “Now by removing V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult from play, I get to summon the VW-Tiger Catapult (2000/2100) in Attack Mode. But wait, there’s more because I get to activate his special effect!”</p><p>“Gods above get on with it already,” Jaden seethed.</p><p>Chazz sent one card from his hand to the Graveyard, “By sending one monster to the Graveyard, I can switch your monster into Attack Mode.”</p><p>Jaden swallowed as Clayman was forced into Attack Mode, meaning that she would take damage this time around. </p><p>Chazz pointed at Clayman as the monster’s card disappeared from the field, signaling its change in position, "So after this heat seeker blitz from my tiger catapult, your Life Points are toast!"</p><p>Jaden shielded herself as the tiger catapult began its onslaught, rage filling her as she heard Clayman’s groans of pain before he disappeared.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  2800 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  4000 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>“I end my turn with a face down. Your move Jaden.”</p><p>Crowler smirked as he pressed his hands up against the glass of the faculty viewing box, “My my, it seems that Jaden can’t play with the big boys after all. I guess he isn’t as good as everyone says. What a pity.”</p><p>Jaden took a deep breath to center herself as she drew her next card. Chazz all of a sudden had a deck full of new and rare cards along with the fact that he was dueling someone outside of his dorm. It was obvious to her that Chazz had planned this with someone else at the academy, but she could not put her finger on who could be the culprit.</p><p>"Yeah, go ahead and finish up, ‘cause I'm just getting warmed up! " Jaden said. "Speaking of, here's someone who can really turn up the heat! I summoned Elemental HERO Sparkman (1600/1400) in Defense Mode, and I'll throw down a facedown as well."</p><p>A blue and gold hero appeared on the field and knelt in front of Jaden with his arms crossed.</p><hr/><p>"Not much he can do with all the rares Chazz seems to have," Bastion said as he watched Jaden try to bring up her defense.</p><p>"It's just not fair!" came the whines of a few other Slifer students.</p><p>“This is a complete mismatch! How can Jaden fight back when he doesn't know what he's fighting?” Alexis commented, but her comment was only loud enough for people close by, like Syrus and the camcorder, to hear her. “For an Obelisk to duel a Slifer in an event like this, there is no doubt that a teacher had a hand in this, especially since Chazz has already dueled Jaden before!” </p><p>Syrus and Bastion turned around to face the Obelisk girl who had wandered over to their side of the arena, “Who do you think would do that to Jay?”</p><p>Alexis rolled her eyes, “I have no doubt it’s Crowler. He’s been after Jaden’s head ever since he got beaten during the entrance exams. Now he’s taking his anger out on the guy who humiliated him instead of taking things in stride!”</p><p>Syrus and Chumley shot each other a look before nodding to one another. They were about to end a man’s whole career if they were lucky.</p><hr/><p>“I hope you didn’t have anything planned for your impossible round 2 victory, Slifer Slacker, because I’m about to turn up the heat!” Chazz grinned as he drew another card. “Now, I play X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) and thanks to Frontline's magic, Z-Metal Tank (1500/1300) is here to play too!"</p><p><em>I need to talk to Pegasus about nerfing famous cards from here on out, </em>Jaden inwardly groaned as two cards made infamous by Kaiba’s stint in the Battle City Tournament were summoned to the stage. </p><p>“Now I activate my face down card, Call of the Haunted, which allows me to revive a monster from my Graveyard. I think I’ll pick the only one I have right now, the Y-Dragon Head (1500/1600)  I sent to the graveyard to switch your stupid Clayman into Attack Mode!”</p><p><em>Note to self, find a new Kaiba for the rest of the year</em>, Jaden thought as a red robot dragon appeared on the field.</p><p>"And now I combine them all to form XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800/2600)!"</p><hr/><p>"Now Chazz has two monsters out with over 2000 Attack Points each!" said Bastion turned the camcorder so that it was facing him and not the duel. “I don’t know how much you know about Duel Monsters, Mr. and Mrs. Yuki-”</p><p>“Jaden’s adopted and doesn’t share her legal parent’s last name while in school, Bastion. She still loves her parents very much though. They are very nice people, by the way. They send us weekly care packages.”</p><p>“Yes yes, sorry about that. As I was saying- wait did you just use female pronouns when talking about Jaden?”</p><p>“Nice going Syrus!” Chumley groaned.</p><hr/><p>"But wait Jaden, there's more!" said Chazz. </p><p>“You’re starting to sound like an infomercial Chazz, so can you just get on with it so we can get on with our lives? It’s like you're sucking up all the air in here,” Jaden deadpanned. Usually she liked long duels, but all of the dialogue was starting to get on her nerves. There was only one person she could tolerate when it came to long monologues in duels and that was her own father.</p><p>A few people nervously whispered about how it seemed like Jaden had given up while others laughed at the Slifer’s comment about how Chazz was sucking out the life from the room.</p><p>Chazz felt his eye twitch, “Fine then! I combine my monsters to summon the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon (3000/2800)! Makes your Sparkman look like a heap of trash, huh? Or at least it did!"</p><p>Jaden gasped as Sparkman disappeared in a small whirlwind, leaving her side of the field practically empty and without any defense "Sparkman! What did you do to him, you- you third rate dime store Seto Kaiba!"</p><p>Chazz chose to ignore the comment and instead smirked,  "Oh, I'm sorry,  didn't you know about VWXYZ's special ability? He allows me to remove one card from your field once per turn! Now if you think that's impressive, just wait until you see his attack! And I think that I’ll attack your Life Points directly!"</p><p>"Not so fast, Chazz! I activate my Trap Card, A Hero Emerges!" said Jaden.</p><p>"A Hero what?" wondered Chazz.</p><p>Jaden smiled and held out the hand holding her cards, "A Hero Emerges, you know, like emerges onto the field? Thanks to its effect, you have to randomly choose a card from my hand, and if it's a Monster, I get to play it!”</p><p>Chazz rolled his eyes before lazily pointing to a card, “I pick the card on the far right.”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she played the card, “I summon Elemental HERO Burstinatrix (1200/800) in Defense Mode!”</p><p>In a swirl of flames, the female E-Hero appeared on the field in the same kneeling position as the previous heroes. </p><p>Chazz laughed, "You forget, when VWXYZ-Dragon Cannon attacks, I get to choose your Monster's Mode and you know what, I choose Attack Mode again! Which means not only will she go bye-bye, but so do your Life Points!"</p><p>Jaden flinched as she heard Burstinatrix scream in pain as she was destroyed. <em>Oh, it is so on now!</em></p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1800 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  4000 LP<br/></strong>
</p><p>"Aw, what's the matter, Jaden?" Chazz teased. "Having some test anxiety? Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. Oh well, sooner if you want to just give up right now."</p><p>"No way, Chazz!" Jaden glared at her opponent, the cries of her monsters filling her head as she drew her next card. "I've got a whole army of vicious monsters in my deck just waiting to get at you! This isn't over yet!”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she saw what she picked, “Oh yeah, now it’s really starting to come together.”</p><p>Chazz snorted at Jaden’s reaction, “Oh really? What did you just pull, another hero?”</p><p>Jaden smiled, “Actually, I pulled your complete and utter demise in this duel.”</p><p>Chazz felt his eyebrow twitch as the audience gasped and began to whisper, “Oh really? Well how about <em>you</em> get on with it?”</p><p>“First off, I summon Winged Kuriboh (300/200) in Defense Mode!”</p><p>The winged fur ball appeared on the field, glaring as menacingly as he could at Chazz.</p><p>“A Kuriboh? Oh you have got to me-”</p><p>Chazz was then cut off by the squealing coning the girls and some of the guys in the audience.</p><p>“Aww, look at him!”</p><p>“He’s so cute!”</p><p>“I need one. It’s not a want, it's a need!”</p><p>“He’s so fluffy!”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she placed the card she had drawn into a slot on the side of her duel disk, “Now, I place one card face down and end my turn.”</p><p>Chazz gave Jaden a blank look, as if expecting something else, “That’s it?”</p><p>“That’s it, my dude.”</p><p>“...Whatever,” Chazz scoffed as he drew a card. “Let’s just get this over with, Dragon Catapult, do your thing!”</p><p>Jaden smirked as the machine in front of her charged its attack and fired, “I sacrifice two cards to activate my face down Transcendent Wings!”</p><p>Chazz’s eyes widened at the sight of the rare spell, “How did you get that?”</p><p>“It’s called good karma. Now by sending two of my cards to the Graveyard, I can level up Winged Kuriboh to a Lv 10 monster!”</p><p>The attack hit Winged Kuriboh head on, but the monster’s wings grew so that they shielded his entire body. Once the light had dissipated, Winged Kuriboh pulled his wings back to show he now had a rather draconic set of armor.</p><p>Jaden smirked, her eyes flashing gold for a scant second, “And that’s not all it does! By sacrificing himself, Winged Kuriboh destroys all Monsters in Attack Mode and deflects their Attack Points back to you as damage! Why don't you go ahead and show him how it works, partner?"</p><p>
  <em>“Kuri kuri!”</em>
</p><p>Disappearing in a small explosion, Winged Kuriboh reflected the damage back at his opponent, destroying himself and the target while getting the first hit on Chazz that day.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden - 1800 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz - 1000 LP</strong>
</p><p>Chazz glared at Jaden as the smoke cleared, “Fine, I end my turn.”</p><p>Jaden smiled and drew a card. Looking it over, she burst out in laughter.</p><p>“What the hell is so funny, Slacker?”</p><p>Jaden let a few more giggles escape her, “I was just thinking how screwed up it would be if somehow I pulled a monster with 1000 Attack Points or more this turn.”</p><p>Chazz paled as a single word escaped his lips, “No.”</p><p>“So yeah, I summon Elemental HERO Avian (1000/1000) in Attack Mode-”</p><p>“No no no-”</p><p>“And I attack you directly!”</p><p>“No no no no not again-AHHHHHHH!”</p><p>Chazz cried out in horror as he was attacked directly by a rather angry looking hero, causing his Life Points to drop down to nothing.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1000 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Chazz:  0 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Winner: Jaden Yuki</strong>
</p><p>"T-that's impossible!” Crowler floundered as his latest plan to humiliate Jaden failed, “Chazz couldn't have lost! Not with all the rare cards I've given to Chazz! T-this simply can't be!"</p><p>Chancellor Sheppard raised an eyebrow at the teacher, "Rare cards? What exactly are you talking about, Crowler? Do you have anything to do with the complaints we got in this morning from the school store?"</p><p>Remembering where he was, Crowler shrieked and ran out of the viewing box, “Nothing! Nothing at all! Excuse me, I have to go grade some tests!”</p><p>Sheppard sighed as he watched the man flee before looking over at Jaden, who was waving to the audience before turning to her opponent.</p><hr/><p>“And that’s game! Thanks for the rematch Chazz. Let me know when you want to duel again!”</p><p>Chazz glared up at Jaden. "Oh, we will, and it might be sooner than you think!"</p><p>"Hey, Jaden!"</p><p>Jaden turned around to see Syrus and Bastion running up to her, this time the Ra Yellow was holding the camcorder as Syrus tackled his friend.</p><p>There was a slight buzzing in the air before a voice came from the speakers.</p><p>"That was well-played, Jaden!" Sheppard said through the intercom the faculty box. "Not once in the history of our Academy has a Slifer dueled an Obelisk during these exams, but this is the first time I have heard of a Slifer going against Obelisk level duelists and winning multiple times! Jaden, not only did you hold your own, but you won! Please come see me in my office as soon as possible, young lady."</p><p>"Wait, what?"</p><p>"Yuki is a girl?"</p><p>"Why is she in Red then?"</p><p>Jaden smiled at her friends and gave them a peace sign, “If Dad’s email was correct, then I think I know where this is going.”</p><p>Jaden jogged out of the arena as multiple people started talking to each other about Sheppard's announcement, the female student body talking over the rest of the audience about their new dorm mate.</p><hr/><p>Syrus did his best to hold in his tears as the last of Jaden’s boxes left the room, leaving an empty bunk. His friend was in Obelisk Blue now, and possibly gone forever!</p><p>“Don’t cry Syrus, you know that this was coming,” Chumley said as he wiped his own tears.</p><p>Syrus nodded, “Yeah I know, but it’s so early in the semester!”</p><p>“What’s so early in the semester?”</p><p>Syrus and Chumley turned around to see Jaden standing in the doorway. She was wearing a Duel Academy girl’s uniform top, but the girl’s uniform top was red with white accents instead of white with blue accents. She also now had a set of the girl’s gloves, but in red to match her top. Instead of a black t-shirt she now had a black shirt with multiple buckles on it. She was also wearing a pair of silver stud earrings in the shape of the Eye of Horus and a cuff bracelet with a silver ankh on her right wrist.</p><p>“...Jaden what are you wearing?”</p><p>Jaden looked down at her outfit before looking back at Syrus and smiling, “Chancellor Sheppard said that there were a bunch of these tops left over from when they changed to the idea of all girls being in Obelisk, so I get to stay right here!”</p><p>“I meant with your shirt.”</p><p>“My parents were really into the goth and punk scene back in the day and they kept a bunch of their clothes. Pretty cool vintage, huh?”</p><p>“What’s with the jewelry?”</p><p>“My dad is from Egypt and he sent these to me when he found out about how I trounced Chazz the first time!”</p><p>“But what about your stuff-”</p><p>“My room can’t be co-ed, so I’m getting my own room next door since we have the space now that some of the guys moved up to Ra Yellow.”</p><p>“Okay but what about you not going to the girl’s dorm?”</p><p>“Sheppard said that having me around here is boosting the morale of the Slifers since their scores for this year’s practical were higher than last year, plus he’s trying to see if maybe having the girls ranked again might be something in the future since most of them performed poorly today. Despite being Obelisks a lot of them showed that while money can get them rare cards it can’t buy them talent. Again, I can’t afford the luxury that comes with being in Obelisk Blue and I am not applying for financial aid given what all of that entails. My Mom and her friends are self made people for the most part and I plan to do the same. Plus, now I can have Serket in my room and not have to worry about someone accidentally hurting him!” Jaden said as she scratched the back of her head, <em>Also Uncle J does not want me selling my soul to Kaiba Corp in any form so siree!</em></p><p>Syrus teared up as he ran to Jaden and hugged her, “I’m never letting you go Jay! I’ll be your number one follower forever!”</p><p>Jaden laughed as she tried to pry her friend off of her, “Thanks Syrus, but now this is getting awkward!”</p><p>Chumley laughed as his friend's antics before one of Jaden’s comments came to mind, “Hey Jay, who is Serket?”</p><p>“Oh, he’s my pet scorpion!”</p><p>“Your <em>what </em>now?”</p><hr/><p>Things did not change much the next day, but Jaden was not used to the stares she was getting from the male students. After the third Ra Yellow asked her out and refused to take no for an answer, Jaden had at least one other member of her dorm or Bastion with her at all times.</p><p>Crowler was seething over how a Slifer was shaking up the status quo of the Academy. </p><p>He would get rid of Jaden Yuki, one way or another. </p><p>“Dr. Crowler, wait up!”</p><p>Crowler turned around to see Jaden jogging towards him, “Ah yes, Jaden. How can I help you today, young lady?”</p><p>Jaden smiled, “I wanted to say thank you for your help the other day! I was able to get in touch with Jesse and now our bond is stronger than ever! He says thank you too!”</p><p><em>That solves all the questions I had about Jesse, </em>Crowler gave a shaky smile, “Well, that is good to hear young lady.”</p><p>Jaden smiled and thanked her teacher again before running off, not noticing how the man was fuming.</p><p>Then, a smile came to his face, <em>One girl in a sea of boys? Oh, a certain boyfriend is not going to like that. I wonder what he would say if he knew.</em></p><p>The smile fell as the blond man hung his head, “I don’t even know where I can start when it comes to this Jesse fellow.”</p><p>So much for that plan!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Shadow Duelist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On an abandoned corner of the island, Alexis approached a rundown building blocked off by chains with a single red rose in her hand. Placing the rose, the Obelisk girl gave a small prayer.</p><p>“I hope you’re safe, brother, wherever you and the others are.”</p><hr/><p>Meanwhile at the Slifer Red dorms, someone thought it would be a good idea to play 100 Ghost Stories to pass the time and to attempt to summon a spirit they said they saw near the dorms.</p><p><em>I wonder who that could be, </em>Yubel<em>.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>“It wasn’t me or anyone in your decks this time. Honestly.”</em> </strong>
</p><p>The game was simple; the group would light 100 candles and take turns telling a story, without repeating the same story, and then blow out the candle when they were done. To help get some of the creative juices flowing, a deck of 100 spare cards was used and each person would take a card and tell a story based off the number of stars the monster had. </p><p>Tables and chairs had been stacked against the walls of the meal hall and a ring of salt with a few bowls of burning herbs served as a barrier for the students.  Most of the Slifers had given abridged versions of creepypasta stories or recounted things that happened to a friend of a friend, but it was tame for the most part.</p><p>Some of the students laughed as Syrus finished his tale about a mysterious lake that would lure people using their most wanted cards before dragging them in never to be seen again. Rolling his eyes and blowing out his candle, Syrus handed Jaden the spare card deck.</p><p>“Okay Jaden, you’re number 96 so make it a good one,” one of the Slifers joked at their only female member. Jaden had been telling some of the best stories that night, but after a certain point all the plots of every stories were starting to seem cookie cutter.</p><p>Pulling a card from the deck, Jaden pouted as she showed the group a one-star monster.</p><p>Syrus sighed, jealous that Jaden did not have to put in effort for her latest story, "Oh man, you lucked out. You hardly have to scare us with that card."</p><p>Jaden sighed as she thought of a story. “I don’t really have a story, but it’s more like a memory from when I was little.”</p><p>“Oh really?”</p><p>Jaden nodded, “Yeah really. Well, a little after my Dad... came out of his coma, I was woken up in the middle of night by a voice saying “play with me play with me” over and over and I stayed awake for two hours terrified as the voice continued.”</p><p>The boys leaned in, waiting for her to continue, "...And then...?"</p><p>"...and then I realized it was a Furby on its last bits of battery juice."</p><p>Syrus looked at Jaden with a blank face and voiced the opinions of many in the room, “Jaden how the hell is that less scary than my story?”</p><p>Suddenly, a fit of maniacal laughter burst out from outside the circle of salt the students had made. "Mwahahahaha! This looks like fun! Mind if I join?"</p><p>Students started screaming and attempted to flee, only to be pulled back by their peers.</p><p>“We can’t break the circle!”</p><p>“Screw the circle just get me out of here!”</p><p>Banner laughed as he stroked his cat, “I see you are playing 100 Ghost Stories. Mind if I join?”</p><p>Jaden moved over to let Banner into the circle, “S-sure, go ahead! The rule is that you got to pick a monster card and the higher the level, the scarier the story has to be.”</p><p>Banner nodded and took a card from the deck, showing his students that he had pulled a level 12 monster.</p><p>“Oh this is going to be good,” Chumley muttered as everyone moved closer to their Dorm Head.</p><p>“You see, deep in the woods of this island is an abandoned dorm. Back when the academy was first founded, it was the original Obelisk Blue dorm. Eventually, as the school grew, the new Obelisk Dorm was built and the old dorm was reserved for the honor students, the creme de la creme of the island. Then, a few years ago, it was shut down when a group of honor students went missing over Spring Break.”</p><p>Syrus swallowed audibly, “W-what happened to them?”</p><p>Banner’s glasses shone in the candlelight, “Nobody knows what happened to them, but according to the rumors there was evidence inside the dorm to suggest that someone was dabbling in the Shadow Games.”</p><p>Jaden immediately straightened up, her full attention on Banner.</p><p>“You see kids, the Shadow Games were what served as the basis for Duel Monsters during the time of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The duel, however, only turned high stakes when one of seven dangerous relics called the Millenium Items was used.”</p><p>“Why were these items so dangerous?” one of the students whispered.</p><p>“I know why. They are cursed in a sense.”</p><p>Everyone looked over to Jaden in shock.</p><p>“5000 years ago, there was a Pharaoh named Aknamkanon. He had a younger twin brother named Aknadin. While he loved his brother dearly, Aknadin was resentful of his brother for being Pharaoh while he was unimportant in the eyes of the court despite rising through the ranks and becoming the Pharaoh’s personal mage, since most of the court thought it was due to nepotism. When Egypt, or Khemet as it was called, was under attack, Aknadin pushed his brother to fight back and protect his people, but Aknamkanon refused on the grounds of wanting peace. Eventually, the invading armies grew too close to the palace to be repelled, and so Aknadin suggested using a spell from a forbidden spell book to create the Millennium Items. Faced with the undeniable fact his kingdom may be destroyed, Aknamkanon agreed.</p><p>“The thing is, Aknamkanon did not know what the price would be to create the Millennium Items, so you can only imagine his shock when his brother returned with seven magical items forged from the blood and souls of 99 people from a slum village called Kul Elna. Aknadin chose this village because he saw it as a stain on the land; full of thieves, criminals, murderers, prostitutes, and the worst of the worst:  grave robbers.”</p><p>One of the Slifers near the edge of the circle raised his hand, “Quick question, how are grave robbers worse that murderers?”</p><p>“Well, grave robbers are said to be the descendants of the very people who constructed the tombs of the past Pharaohs, which is how they can get in and out so easily. The usual practice was that after a tomb had been constructed, the workers who were not designated as tomb keepers would be killed to protect the Pharaoh even after death. Since the royal family was said to have the blood of the god Horus running through their veins, stealing from them was the same as stealing from the gods, and stealing form the gods would usually mean that a drought, plague or something else would sweep over the nation and almost destroy it.”</p><p>“You know, that’s fair.”</p><p>“Anyway, Aknamkanon was horrified when he found out the cost to create the items sacrificed himself to the Gods in a form of penance and left this throne to his oldest son, Pharaoh Amenhotep I, who until a few years back was infamously known as The Nameless Pharaoh.”</p><p>Banner watched as Jaden continued his story with great interest, watching as the light from the candle made the girl’s eye glow with a golden sheen.</p><p>“Thing is, Kul Elna did have a survivor; a boy named Akefia who grew up to become the King of Thieves. Using the Shadow Games, Akefia opened the gates to a plain called the Shadow Realm and threatened to plunge the world into darkness. Amenhotep called upon the avatars of three gods, Obelisk the Tormentor, the Winged Dragon of Osiris or what we call Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra. He fused them together to bring forth the Creator of Light in order to protect the world from the Shadows. Unfortunately, this cost the Pharaoh his life, which resulted in Aknadin’s son Set taking the throne since all of Amenhotep’s blood children died in infancy thanks to Aknadin’s machinations and the only surviving child was a girl the Pharaoh had been gifted as a concubine for his harem. She was too young to be a consort, so she was raised as a princess by the Pharaoh’s orders, but she met a grim fate of her own.</p><p>“So anyway, in order to protect the world from the Shadow Games being reborn, the Pharaoh made his name the key to unlocking the door to darkness and thus his name was stricken from history until about ten years ago when his tomb was unearthed by that one dig sponsored by Kaiba Corp. They say that in times of trouble or darkness, reciting the Pharaoh’s name will bring aid.”</p><p>One of the Slifers close to the edge of the circle spoke up, “Whatever happened to the Amenhotep’s daughter?”</p><p>“Set already had a son from a previous relationship, a boy who would crowned pharaoh and known by the throne name of Abidos III. After his Pharaoh died, Set did everything in his power to keep his late cousin’s ward by his side, eventually marrying her off to Abidos as the Great Royal Wife, or Queen, of all positions instead of as a concubine in the harem. Unfortunately, not many people in the palace who still supported Aknadin liked the idea of their hated political enemy’s daughter becoming the Great Royal Wife. You see, Egypt was really big about blood purity in the Royal Family and so it was common to have siblings marry siblings and even have children marry their own parents and some cases grandparents, so having an outsider with no ties to the throne other than adoption was seen as defiling the bloodline of the kings.” Jaden’s eyes then became sad, “They poisoned the princess at her own wedding feast by spiking her wine with kingslayer, what we call arsenic, to mock her and her supposed place in the Royal Family since kingslayer was usually used in assassination attempts on nobles. She died in her husband’s arms in full view of the court. According to the legends, her last words were her calling for her dead father to save her from the dark.”</p><p>“…<em>Wow</em>, that is sad.”</p><p>“Poor thing.”</p><p>“Thank you for the explanation Jaden, that information was quite new to me. I shall remember it later for our class discussion when we get to Ancient Egypt.” Banner said as he adjusted his glasses with a smile. Then, he blew out his candle. </p><p>“Since Jaden added to the story, she should blow a few out too! Those cliffnotes and add-ons were enough to be their own stories!” Chumley said.</p><p>Rolling her eyes, Jaden did as her friend said, “There, 100 candles and no ghost.”</p><hr/><p>Watching from the window, Crowler smiled at Jaden’s reaction to Banner mentioning the abandoned dorm. Given how much the girl knew about the Shadow Games from her story, it was all too obvious that the girl was going to investigate the abandoned dorm.</p><p>“Getting caught going to the abandoned dorm is an automatic expulsion! First that girl humiliated me and my top student, then she wormed her way around to stay in Slifer Red, get them more funding, and brushed off my invitation to Obelisk Blue, not that I would want her. This is the perfect revenge, and all I need to do now is make a phone call!”</p><p>A student sitting next to Jaden looked up and saw Crowler at the window. Still high on the adrenaline from earlier, he pointed at the window and screamed.</p><p>“I THINK I SEE A GHOST AND <em>DAMN</em> IS IT UGLY!”</p><p>Chaos soon broke out in the dorm as Banner and the students started throwing salt, praying, or were running out of the mess hall screaming.</p><hr/><p>The next morning, Banner looked out at his class with heavy bags under his eyes. After the ghost spotting the previous night, nobody in the dorm had gotten a wink of sleep out of fear of the ghost reappearing. Looking at his Slifers, who were in the same predicament, Banner sighed and put on a movie.</p><p>“Write down ten facts that you learned from this movie. Every extra fact will be ¼ point extra credit on my next test. Wake me up when the next teacher needs the room.”</p><p>The Slifer students sighed in relief as Banner turned off the lights and played the movie. Within the first 15 minutes, everyone had their standard ten facts and the Slifers spent the rest of the movie sleeping. </p><p>Bastion turned to Alexis in the row next to his, “What happened to them?”</p><p>Alexis shrugged, “All I know is that Jaden turned down a Girl’s Night that Jasmine and Mindy were planning with a majority of the girls in order to do whatever it was the Slifers were up to last night.”</p><p>Bastion nodded before turning back to the Slifer students, “I’m sure we can find out with just a few extra servings at lunch today, or perhaps an eggwich.”</p><hr/><p>“You want to go <em>where</em> exactly?” Alexis practically screeched as she met with Jaden and her friends for lunch.</p><p>“You heard me, I want to go to the abandoned dorm,” Jaden said as she took a bite out of her eggwich. “There are rumors that the Shadow Games were being performed there so I want to check it out.”</p><p>Alexis glared at Jaden, who was eating her lunch in a carefree manner, “Kids actually went missing, Jaden! I should know, my brother was one of them!”</p><p>Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, and Bastion all paused to look at Alexis, whose eyes were watering, “I lost my brother two years ago to that place. I am not losing anyone else.”</p><p>Jaden stared at Alexis before sighing, “I’m sorry Alexis, I really am, but know that I’m not going there just for kicks. I’m going there to investigate if it was a real Shadow Game or not that took those kids. I’ve almost lost my life because of Shadow Games, same with a good chunk of my family. If your brother and his friends are in the Shadow Realm, then I might know someone who can bring them back.”</p><p>The rest of the group dropped their lunches in shock, “What?”</p><p>Alexis blinked before glaring at Jaden again, “Jaden I swear if you’re just making shit up, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see the light of day ever again.”</p><p>Jaden gave Alexis a blank stare for a few seconds, “Like I said, I am not trying to capitalize on anyone’s pain. I just want to help. The Shadow Games are not to be played with like a toy, they were used to give a criminal a fighting chance when it came to their own execution during their hay days. Even if I can’t find anyone, I can at least destroy anything that could be used for a Shadow Game. The more people I can keep out of the Shadow Realm, the better.”</p><p>Alexis closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself, “Fine, meet me at the beach behind the Obelisk Dorms tonight. I’ll take you there.”</p><p>Picking up the remains of her lunch, Alexis stood up and walked away.</p><p>Syrus shot Jaden a worried look, “Hey Jay, aren’t you scared that whatever took those students might still be there?”</p><p>Jaden shrugged, “If it’s still there, we kick ass and take names. Besides, we got a backup plan.”</p><p>“And what is the backup plan?”</p><p>“I call my Dad.”</p><p>“...Not exactly the best plan but at least it’s something.”</p><hr/><p>Alexis watched as Jaden and her friends made their way into the dorm from behind a tree, a walkie talkie in her hand. If Jaden found anything, then Alexis wanted to be the first to know.</p><p>Jaden and her friends were on the second floor of the dorm first. According to the nameplate on the door, the room once belonged to a student named Yusuke Fujiwara.</p><p>“Hey Alexis, it’s Jaden. Did your brother ever know a guy named Yusuke? Over.”</p><p>There was some static before a reply came over the walkie talkie,<em> “Roger. Yeah, he did. My brother, Zane, and Yusuke were the top three of the Obelisk Dorm during their first year. Yusuke was a bit standoffish, but he seemed nice. He was an orphan who was at the Academy on a scholarship, so no familial ties to question his disappearance. Over.”</em></p><p>Jaden opened the door and let Syrus do a quick sweep with his flashlight. Clearing away a half-rotted rug and some broken furniture, Jaden blanched at what she found. Carved on the floor of the room was a magic circle. In the middle of the circle was a small dried-up pool of something reddish-brown, almost black, that was flaking. There was also a trash bin that was filled to the brim with pictures of other students near the circle as well. On two of the walls were giant tablets depicting images of the seven Millennium Items as well as various hieroglyphs and other images. </p><p>Jaden brought the walkie talkie up again, “Hey Alexis, you know what they say about it always being the quiet ones? Over.”</p><p>
  <em>“…Don’t tell me that he was sacrificing chickens in his room or something. Over.”</em>
</p><p>“Or something is right. Over.”</p><p>“Okay, how is it that nobody pointed out all of these weird writings in the initial report or rumors?” Chumley said as he shone a light on the tablets as Jaden took pictures of them using her camcorder, “I mean, I heard the rumors that weird things were going on here, but they never covered stuff like this. This incident made the news and everything!”</p><p>“The school probably covered it up. With Seto Kaiba funding this place and all the eccentricities he’s been known for regarding his Blue Eyes White Dragon, this would be a nail in the coffin when it came to Board Members giving a vote of No Confidence to boot him as CEO like they did with his father Gozaburo. Apparently, Gozaburo was so broken by the vote of no confidence that he jumped through one of the giant windows on the conference room and fell 20 stories to his death... at least, according to the rumors and all,” Syrus said as he looked around with his own flashlight to make sure nothing would jump out at him. A few swings of his arm later and his light landed on a picture of a handsome young man among multiple other framed pictures. <em>This guy looks familiar. I think I’ve seen him in a few of Zane’s pictures.</em></p><p>Jaden frowned as she looked over the hieroglyphs. “The grammar looks way too off. It’s like someone just put words into an online translator. Not only that, but it looks like there are a few words and characters from other languages in here.”</p><p>“You can read this stuff?”</p><p>“I’m a person of many talents and being multilingual happens to be one of-ow!” Jaden hissed as she drew back her fingers. Looking back at the wall, she saw that a piece of glass was embedded into the wall and had accidentally wiped some of her blood on a picture of the Millennium Puzzle. “Okay, this is weird. All the windows are broken, but how did this one piece of glass get here when all the windows show that they were broken from a force inside the dorm?”</p><p>Jaden reached into her pocket and pulled out a bandage to wrap her finger as she looked around the room. There was definitely something wrong going on in the dorm, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.</p><p>
  <em>Any ideas Haou?</em>
</p><p>Haou shook their head as they briefly appeared next to Jaden in their spectral form,<strong> <em>No, this is something outside of my knowledge. A Shadow Game took place here, but I cannot determine the source of the evil power used to bring it to this realm.</em></strong></p><p>
  <em>Thanks for the heads up on that. I’ll let Marik know in an email.</em>
</p><p>Suddenly, the Slifer trio heard a scream coming from outside.</p><p>“That sounded like Alexis!”</p><p>“You don’t think that whatever took the other students got her too?”</p><p>“Alexis!”</p><p>By the time the trio got to the second floor, all they could find was an Etoile Cyber card on the floor with a trail cutting through dust that led to the basement.</p><p>“Follow that trail!”</p><hr/><p>Jaden ran down the hallway, which started to slowly lose its elegant design and turn into a tunnel that would not be out of place in a mine. The walls were also covered in symbols and hieroglyphs. Soon they arrived in a large, cavernous room and looked on in horror as Alexis was placed in an upright, demonic looking coffin by a large man in a trench coat and mask.</p><p>“Let her go!” Jaden yelled as her eyes flashed gold, “Do you hear me? Let my friend go!”</p><p>The man in the trench coat laughed, “It’s too late for your friend, I’ve already sent her soul to the Shadow Realm.”</p><p>“Oh no!” Syrus cried out as Jaden took a step back in shock. </p><p><em>I failed Alexis, </em>Jaden wiped away the tears that were forming before glaring at the man in front of her. “Duel me! If I win, then my friends and I walk out of here, Alexis included. If I lose, I’ll take Alexis’ place in the Shadow Realm!”</p><p>Syrus was the first to snap out of his shock, “Jaden, have you lost your mind?”</p><p>Chumley pushed the short boy behind him and tossed Jaden a Duel Disk, “Kick his ass.”</p><p>Jaden nodded at her large friend before putting on the Duel Disk and inserting her deck. “Get your game on, gruesome.”</p><p>The man laughed, “My name is Titan. I suggest you remember it because it’s the last thing you’re going to remember about tonight.”</p><p>
  <strong>Titan:  4000</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000</strong>
</p><p>"Prepare, fool, to enter into the shadows," Titan intoned ominously as he drew his first card. "I summon Infernal Queen Archfiend (900/1500) in Attack Mode! And in case you didn't know, with this card out on the field every monster with Archfiend in its name gets 1000 additional attack points, including my Queen!"</p><p>Jaden felt Yubel raging in the back of her mind as a demonic creature in a red dress emerged onto the field.</p><p>"Don’t get too sure about victory yet," Jaden sneered. "I know a thing or two about Fiend and Archfiend decks, and I know that if you want to keep those Archfiends on the field, you gotta pay Life Points during every Standby Phase of your turn."</p><p>Titan threw back his head and bellowed in laughter, “I’m impressed with you child. Yes, in a normal situation I would have to pay Life Points, but not when I play this. I activate the Spell Card Pandemonium!”</p><p>Jaden watched as the entire arena turned a dark red. Suddenly, demonic statues started bursting out from the ground and walls.</p><p><em>Be careful Jaden</em>, a voice whispered in the girl’s ear.</p><p>Jaden whipped her head around, “Who said that?”</p><p>Titan smirked; it seemed that his tactics were starting to unnerve his target, “Thanks to Pandemonium, I don’t have to pay Life Points for my Archfiends, and if they're ever destroyed outside of a battle, I get to put another Fiend right into my hand!”</p><p>Jaden drew a card. Looking over what she drew and what she already had in her hand, a lightbulb went off in her head. “First, I play Card Destruction! Thanks to this card, we have to discard as many cards as possible, then draw the same amount!”</p><p>“She just discarded her hand for a new one. What is she up to?” Chumley asked himself.</p><p>Syrus shook his head. “I dunno, but if I’ve learned anything from Jaden’s playing style, it’s  if she does something ludicrous than it will pay off in the long run.”</p><p>Jaden nodded to herself as she tried to come up with a strategy to by herself some time. “I play Elemental HERO Avian (1000/1000) in Attack Mode. Then I’ll throw down two face downs and call it a turn.”</p><p>Titan smirked as he drew a card. “Too bad you won't have a chance to use those cards you placed. I summon Terrorking Archfiend (2000/1500) in Attack Mode!"</p><p>Resembling very deadly and similar to his Queen counterpart, Terrorking Archfiend had a much bulky figure and was already twice as strong as his Queen, with a few different aspects for appearance other than the crown on his head.</p><p>"Now, I have two vicious Fiends to fight you with, and thanks to my Infernal Queen Archfiend, my Terrorking's Attack Points automatically increase by 1000, making him an even more fiendish force to be reckoned with!"</p><p>"That means he has 3000 Attack Points!" Jaden gasped.</p><p>"That's right, now I'm going to put them all to good use! Terrorking Archfiend! Attack Avian with Locust Storm Barrage!”</p><p>Terrorking Archfiend's chest opened up like a gate, with several moths and wasps fleeting out and heading straight at Avian.</p><p>"No way! You forgot about my face down card, Mirror Gate!" yelled Jaden. "This Trap Card causes our Monsters to trade places! My Avian for your Terrorking! So now, all those 3000 Attack Points are going to work for me!"</p><p>Titan merely smirked. "You thought that you could lure me into a Trap? Look around you and tell me who's trapped."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"I mean, your Trap won't work on my Terrorking! He simply activates his ability! An ability that will determine our monsters' way of chance!"</p><p>Six colorful balls numbered 1 through 6 erupted from the floor and floated over to Titan.</p><p>As Jaden stared at the colorful balls, Titan began explaining, "You see, when he's targeted by an opponent's effect, Terrorking's special ability gives me a gambling chance. A number between 1 and 6 is selected at random and if it happens to be a 2 or 5, then your Trap is destroyed and Archfiend stays to fight on my side! So, let's spin the wheel of fate and see what happens, shall we?"</p><p>A wisp of fire started going around the circle of balls. As it slowed down, the wisp landed straight on the 2 ball.</p><p>“Dammit!” Jaden swore.</p><p>Titan smiled at the result, "It seems that chance has favored my Terrorking Archfiend! Mirror Gate is shattered! Locust Storm Barrage, finish her!"</p><p>Once the Mirror Gate aura vanished from Avian’s body, a swarm of insects attacked him. Trying to swat them away with all his might, the wind hero was unable to deal with the numbers and exploded.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  2000 LP</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Titan:  4000 LP</strong>
</p><p>"Don’t worry Avian, I’ll avenge you!” Jaden cried as she activated a Trap Card. "I activate my Trap Card, Hero Signal! You see, when my Monster's destroyed in battle, this Trap card allows me to automatically summon a monster from my deck or my hand with Elemental Hero in its name, and I summon Elemental Hero Clayman (800/2000) in Defense Mode!"</p><p>The earth elemental hero appeared in a flash of light, giving the air in front of him a few jabs before kneeling with his arms crossed.</p><p>"Oh yeah, way to duel!" Syrus cheered for his friend.</p><p>"Clayman should keep Jaden safe! He always comes through in a pinch!" Chumley nodded, agreeing with his friend.</p><p>Titan smirked after hearing the reactions from the others in the room, "I don't think so. There is no way that hero can protect your friend from this!"</p><p>Jaden gasped as Titan took a familiar looking puzzle out of his pocket. <em>There’s no way he could have that! The Millennium Puzzle disappeared a decade ago; I saw it all go down!</em></p><p>"Now, the Shadow Game has truly begun! Don't your Life Points seem so insignificant now, little girl, now that it's your very life that's at risk?"</p><p>After the light died out, Syrus and Chumley shrieked, perceiving something wrong with Jaden's body. "Jaden! Your body!"</p><p>Jaden looked down to see some of her body had disappeared, “What the hell?!”</p><p>"It is the way of the shadows; transcending the game, attacking your body!" Titan gloated.</p><p>Jaden grit her teeth as she tried to move, only to find her feet were not responding. "Hey, I can't move my feet!"</p><p>"Of course not. As the shadows grow, you all will be taken right into the shadows' grip, for all of eternity! You are at the mercy of the shadows now!" Titan said as the darkness grew. "Treasure the numbness, for it will not last! Soon, you will be drawn into an infinite chasm of eternal darkness where every waking moment will be filled with-"</p><p>“Shut your damn mouth and get on with it! This may be a setback, but I am not giving up!” Jaden said as she glared at the man.</p><p>Titan held up the glowing puzzle, still smirking. "Still, you are no match against my Millennium Item! It's your move, but make it count, for it may be your last!"</p><p><em>Heart of the Cards, please help. </em>Jaden looked down at her deck and sent a quick prayer to whoever was listening. She closed her eyes and drew a card, gasping when she saw what she drew. <em>This is just what I need!</em></p><p>Titan frowned at Jaden’s sudden change in demeanor. <em>What is this girl planning?</em></p><p>“Now, I play the Spell Card Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards!” Looking over what she drew, Jaden smiled victoriously. “Next, I'll fuse Clayman with the Elemental HERO Sparkman (1600/1400) in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (2400/1500)!”</p><p>Sparkman appeared in his usual blast of light. Looking over to Clayman, the two heroes nodded to each other in greeting before jumping into a swirling vortex that appeared above them. The vortex then shattered to reveal a new hero in a purple jumpsuit with large yellow armor with lightning shooting through it.</p><p>“Next, I activate Elemental Hero Necroshade’s effect!”</p><p>Titan balked. “Necroshade? But he isn’t on the field!”</p><p>“Necroshade’s effect activates when he’s chilling in the Graveyard, in case you didn’t know!”</p><p>“The Graveyard?! When did you-” Titan then thought back to Jaden’s first turn in the duel. “Card Destruction. That’s why you played Card Destruction, to send him to the Graveyard?!”</p><p>“Among other things, yes. So anyway, I use Necroshade’s effect, which allows me to summon one Level 5 or higher Warrior monster onto the field and I choose Elemental Hero Bladedge (2600/1800)!”</p><p>A golden hero appeared on the field in a flash of light, blades glinting in the meager light.</p><p>“So that’s why she played Card Destruction!” Syrus gasped. “She did it so she could get two effect monsters onto the field!”</p><p>“Don’t get too excited Syrus.” Chumley warned. “Jaden still has to get around that Infernalqueen’s effect.”</p><p>“That’s right!” Titan grinned; he wasn’t out of the game yet! “You might have two strong monsters, but they are nothing if luck isn’t on your side.”</p><p>“You’re right, I will lose if luck isn’t on my side.” Jaden nodded, uncharacteristically solemn for a second before she grinned. “Good thing it is, because I activate the Trap Card Judgement of the Pharaoh!”</p><p>Titan gasped. “What?! How did you get such a rare card?!”</p><p>Syrus turned to Chumley. "Is it really that rare?"</p><p>Chumley nodded. "Yeah Sy, it is. Pegasus comissioned that card for the 10th anniversary of Duelist Kingdom last year, and had Yugi Motou's husband model for it. Only those who participated in Duelist Kingdom got a copy of that card, so only 40 copies of that card exist. To top it off, it can only be activated if two certain Spell Cards are in the Graveyard!"</p><p>Syrus looked back at Jaden in awe. "This means that someone in Jay's family was in Duelist Kingdom!? She must have learned from someone great!"</p><p>The image of the Pharaoh on the card, a dark-skinned man with star-shaped hair, floated behind Jaden as he glared down at Titan.</p><p>“First, I pay half of my Life Points to activate this card.” Jaden’s Life Points decreased to 1000 as she announced the cost. “Next, I choose from two cards I sent to my Graveyard to apply what I deem is the appropriate effect!”</p><p>Two Spell cards appeared in front of Jaden. One featured a bunch of hands stacked atop one another while the other featured two hands clasping each other in a symbol of friendship.</p><p>“If I choose Unity, I can negate the effects of all Spell and Trap Cards on your side of the field, and you can’t activate or Set Spell or Trap Cards. Should I choose Yu-Jo Friendship, you can’t Normal Summon, Set, Flip Summon, or Special Summon monsters or activate an Effect Monster's effect! I don’t think I need to say which one I choose.”</p><p>Yu-Jo Friendship faded away from the field. As it did, multiple pairs of glowing hands shot out of the ground and restrained both Terrorking Archfiend and Infernalqueen Archfiend.</p><p>“This can’t be! I can’t lose!” Titan looked over the cards in his hand. He had a Desrook Archfiend, Archfiend’s Oath, Summoned Skull, and Double Spell, nothing that could help him.</p><p>“I now activate Thunder Giant’s Special Effect! Once per turn, I can destroy on monster on the field whose original attack points are equal or less than his, and I choose your Terrorking!”</p><p>Unable to benefit from his queen’s effect, Terrorking Archfiend disappeared in a blast of lightning.</p><p>“Next, I attack Infernalqueen with Elemental Hero Bladedge and thanks to Judgement of the Pharaoh, her effect is negated so you get a whopping 1700 points in damage!”</p><p>Infernalqueen shrieked as she was cut down.</p><p>
  <strong>Titan: 2300</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1000</strong>
</p><p>“2300 Life Points left? Well, that’s more than enough since Thunder Giant still has to make his attack! Go, Spark Shot!”</p><p>Titan cried out in horror as his Life Points were reduced to zero. </p><p>
  <strong>Titan:  0</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  1000</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Winner:  Jaden Yuki</strong>
</p><p>Jaden turned to the hologram of the floating Pharaoh, bowed slightly at her waist, and whispered. “Thank you, Amenhotep.”</p><p>As Chumley stared at the Pharaoh’s hologram as it faded away, he could have sworn that the Pharaoh smiled at Jaden.</p><hr/><p>Jaden gave a sigh of relief as the rest of holograms faded and her body parts reappeared, “Now give us back Alexis, along with all the other kids you took you creep!”</p><p>Titan looked confused, “What are you talking about?”</p><p>Jaden glared at Titan, “Don’t play dumb! Years ago, a bunch of kids disappeared from this place when it was still the Obelisk Blue dorm, including Alexis’ brother. Now hand them over!”</p><p>“I was paid to only scare you kids!” Titan said as he took off his hat and mask, “I didn’t know that this dorm was <em>that </em>Obelisk Dorm!”</p><p>“Paid?” Syrus asked as he and Chumley lifted Alexis out of the coffin.</p><p>“Yes, paid. I’m not a real Shadow Duelist. My name is Eric Spitzer, and I get paid to scare off other duelists,” Eric said. “My Millennium Item is just a knockoff I use as part of my act! Everyone knows that Yugi Muoto was the last one to have a puzzle that looks like this one!”</p><p>Suddenly, the Eye of Horus started glowing in the middle of the room.</p><p>“...Is this a part of your act too?”</p><p>“No, no it isn’t-AHHHHHHH!” Eric cried out in horror as blob-like monsters started to rise out of the floors and bury him.</p><p>“You two get Alexis, I’ll get Titan!” Jaden called out to her friends as she ran towards the man.</p><p>Eric shook his head as he was pulled into the ground, “No, save yourselves! Tell my kids I love-”</p><p>“You can tell them yourself!” Jaden cried out as she grabbed Titan’s hand with her own. Gritting her teeth, Jaden tried pulling the man with all of her strength. Winged Kuriboh and Yubel appeared and grabbed Jaden, pulling with all of their might in a bid to help their mistress, but with Winged Kuriboh being a low leveled monster and Yubel being a Dark Attribute, their help was greatly ineffective. </p><p>“Of all the times for Sparkman to be recovering from being a tribute!” Yubel hissed.</p><p>“Jay, we can’t get out!” Syrus screamed as the blobs started to move towards the entrance and block it.</p><p>“We’re trapped!” </p><p>Jaden felt tears fall down her face as the blobs started to move up her arms. <em>I’m going to die here. Daddy I’m sorry but I’m going to die-</em></p><p>The room was immediately swallowed in a flash of light.</p><hr/><p>Crowler giggled as he waited for Jaden and her friends to leave the abandoned dorm, camera in hand. All he had to do was snap a quick picture and Jaden would be done for. Soon, the status quo of the academy would return to normal!</p><p>Suddenly, a bolt of golden light, not lightning but pure light, struck the dorm.</p><p>Crowler dropped his camera in shock. Sure he wanted to scare the Slifer students, but having them injured or even dead was beyond even his morals! If anything happened to them, the Academy could be held liable for a lawsuit!</p><p>“I can’t believe I am saying this, but I hope you Slifer Slackers are alright.”</p><hr/><p>When Jaden opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a white room. Looking around, she saw her friends and Titan passed out on the floor and Yubel holding an unconscious Winged Kuriboh.</p><p>“My poor partners, what happened to you?” Jaden whispered as she ran over to her monsters to check on them. Winged Kurboh was still breathing and Yubel was still conscious, which were good things, but she still did not know where she was.</p><p>“It is good to finally see you, Jaden.”</p><p>Jaden whipped around to face the source of the mysterious voice. </p><p>Standing before her was a man, tall, tan, and with his hair hidden under a blue headpiece. He was wearing a long blue and white tunic with a gold accessories, but what drew Jaden’s attention was the familiar pyramid-shaped pendant the man was wearing.</p><p>Jaden covered her mouth to prevent her sobs from escaping. She knew who this man was based off of the stories she was told as a child, “Uncle, you actually came.”</p><p>Set gave Jaden a tender look before pulling her into a hug, “It’s alright, you and your friends are safe now.”</p><p>Jaden clung to the former Pharaoh like a lifeline, the events of the night catching up to her as she cried.</p><p>“I could have handled it you know. If Jaden could just control her emotions, we wouldn’t have had to summon you from the afterlife.”</p><p>Holding the teenage girl back at arm's length, Jaden and Seto looked back to Yubel to see another girl standing next to the monster. They looked identical to Jaden, except with golden eyes. Their outfit was quite revealing as well; a backless black halter top that was that stopped just a few inches below their chest, a black wrap skirt that showed off their legs with a short roll of fabric that reached their knees falling in front, a belt that had a large circular amethyst as the buckle, knee high boots with spikes on the feet, and gloves that only covered her palms running up to her biceps with two spikes on each arm that were clipped to a flowing red cape. Almost all of their clothing was lined in gold. On their head was a golden diadem.</p><p>Jaden ducked her head with shame while Set narrowed his eyes, “If you were not strong enough to repel the shadows accidentally summoned by a mediocre fake, then you know that the source of evil is beyond what Jaden can currently face, Supreme King. From what I can tell, your full powers of darkness were just fully awakened a few months before this. You and Jaden both will have much to face, that much is for certain.”</p><p>“That’s quite the mouth you have, Son of Ra,” Haou said as they narrowed their eyes at the dead man in front of them. They then relented, crossing their arms and pouting, “But I suppose you are right. If <em>I</em> had problems, then something evil is brewing on this island. It looks like I’m going to have to step in more often now.”</p><p>Set narrowed his eyes, “You know, you were a lot cuter back when you were under my Pharaoh’s tutelage.”</p><p>“Yes, but that was 5,000 years and many incarnations ago. I’ve grown up from being your court’s precious little Ankhesenamun, dear Set.”</p><p>“...You will always be Ankhesenamun, no matter how much time passes.”</p><p>Jaden winced at the fighting before she looked back to Set, who was starting to fade away, “Wait, what were those blob monsters? Do I need to pass on a message for you? Just how did you break out of the Field of Reeds?”</p><p>Seto shook his head and kissed Jaden’s forehead in farewell, “You will understand someday. I’ll always be watching over you and your parents; I owe them that much. Call on me again should you need help, Jaden.”</p><p>Jaden sobbed as her hand went through the Pharaoh, “Uncle, wait-”</p><p>There was another flash of light. When it faded, Jaden found herself back in the abandoned dorm.</p><hr/><p>Alexis groaned as she woke up. Looking up, she saw Jaden, Syrus and Chumley smiling at her along with the man who had kidnapped her.</p><p>Glaring at the man, Alexis jumped to her feet and pointed at the supposed Shadow Duelist, “What is<em> he</em> doing here?!”</p><p>Jaden stood up and held her hands up in surrender, “His stage name is Titan, but his real name is Eric Spitzer. Apparently, someone hired him to kidnap you and scare us. He didn’t know the history of the dorm, he thought that he was just going to scare off some kids!”</p><p>Eric, his mask and hat now removed, nodded in earnest, “That’s right! If I had known about what happened in that dorm, I never would have accepted the job from that man in the cloak. Please forgive me, I fully intend to turn myself in!”</p><p>Alexis narrowed her eyes at the man before Syrus held out a card and one of the framed pictures he had found in Yusuke’s room, “Here, I have a feeling you would want this.”</p><p>"Atticus?” Alexis gasped as she took the picture from Syrus. “After my brother disappeared, my parents packed away all of his photos. This is the first time I’ve seen a picture of him in years!"</p><p>"That's right," said Jaden. "We brought it to let you know that we want to help you find him. After all, we can't have you getting locked up in tombs again when searching by yourself!"</p><p>Soon the sun started to rise, signaling that a new day had come.</p><p>"Here comes the sun, guys! We better get back before they notice that we're gone!" said Jaden as she started to run for her dorm. "See ya later!”</p><p>"Bye Alexis!"</p><p>"See you in class!"</p><p>"If anyone asks, we were never here! Bye!”</p><p>Alexis waved at her friends as they ran back to their dorm and as Eric made his way to the main Duel Academy building, clutching the picture of her brother tightly to her chest. A tiny spark of hope filled her; maybe she would see her brother again sometime soon.</p><hr/><p>Syrus, Chumley and Jaden were thankful that they had decided to investigate the abandoned dorm on a Friday night. As soon as the door to her dorm room was shut, Jaden started dialing a familiar number.</p><p>
  <em>“Hi, you’ve reached Yugi Mouto. I’m not able to take your call, but please leave a message!”</em>
</p><p>“Hey Mom, it’s me. I’ll try to make this quick, but I met Seto last night. Like, High Priest Seto. He rescued me and my friends from the Shadow Realm. It’s official; Shadow Games were being held here at Duel Academy.”</p><p>Jaden took a deep breath before sitting on her bed. “I think… I think I might have to get Zarc involved in this. Please… please call me back. I’m scared, Mommy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Would you believe me if I said that this fic was originally going to be Prideshipping ft. Atem breaking out of the afterlife on a semi-regular basis to protect Jaden?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Brothers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alexis smiled as she put the picture of her brother on top of her dresser. Sure, the night did not end like she wanted it to, but she at least had a picture of her brother now.</p><p>She was brought out of her thoughts by her PDA ringing. When she answered, an image of an older boy with dark teal hair and blue eyes.</p><p>
  <em>“I didn’t see you at the lighthouse last night. Is everything alright?”</em>
</p><p>Alexis sighed as she moved her PDA to show the caller the picture of her brother.</p><p>“Your brother got this for me from the abandoned dorm.”</p><p>
  <em>“Why was Syrus at the abandoned dorm?”</em>
</p><p>“I might have gotten kidnapped?”</p><p>
  <em>“...You’re going to have to explain everything to me from the beginning.”</em>
</p><hr/><p>“Open up! Open this door or we’ll break it down!”</p><p>Bella Commande was the Chairman, or rather Chairwoman, for the Disciplinary Action Squad and she was one to take her job seriously. While she did not duel, there were ways to keep order without having to play Duel Monsters. </p><p>When she was approached by a man named Eric Spitzer about how he had seen children at the abandoned dormitory, she was livid. Two hours and three cups of coffee, her anger only grew because not only did students go into the off limits abandoned dorm, but someone had hired the man sitting in front of her to kidnap and harass the students she had been charged to protect.</p><p>“Jaden Yuki, you have until the count of-”</p><p>Before she could continue, the door opened, causing Bella to gasp.</p><p>Standing before her was Jaden Yuki, or at least someone she thought was Jaden Yuki. The girl standing in front of her had heavy bags under her eyes, a chalk white complexion, and was shivering despite the heavy blanket wrapped around her. </p><p>Bella immediately scooped up the girl as she pitched forward. Running down the stairs as she carried the teen, Bella called out to the jeep driver, “Cancel our original orders, we need to get to the infirmary!”</p><hr/><p>Fonda Fontaine wrote down her findings while Jaden changed into a pair of hospital pajamas and got into the bed provided to her. While she was just a school nurse according to some people, she was actually a doctor that had been scouted by Seto Kaiba himself to take care of students in the island’s infirmary, which also doubled as a hospital just in case. </p><p>“Is Jaden alright, Fonda?” Sheppard asked as he approached the doctor with Syrus trailing behind him.</p><p>Ms. Fontaine nodded, “It seems that she just had a bit of a cold. Normally she would be fine but given her… condition, I would like Jaden to stay here under observation for the time being.”</p><p><em>There’s that, and I might have summoned a dead man to help me and used every bit of strength I had to pull someone out of the Shadow Realm, but I’ll just smile and nod for now, </em>Jaden thought to herself.</p><p>Ms. Fontaine continued, completely unaware of Jaden’s thoughts, “While her normal medications and supplements have been working, the quality of food in the Slifer Red dorm has not been helping her. I highly recommend that you do something about the quality of everything in that dorm, Chancellor. While I understand that the Obelisk and Ra dorms house our more… financially sound students, that does not mean we can discriminate against those who cannot afford to live the high life, understand? I’m quite certain that the Obelisk Blues can go a few months without caviar, champagne, and imported chocolates among other things, <em>sir</em>.”</p><p>Sheppard audibly swallowed and nodded. Crowler was not going to be happy about this change, but the health and welfare of his students came first.</p><p>Fonda left the room so that they could have some privacy. Sheppard took a seat in the chair the nurse had vacated.</p><p>“I’m expelled, aren’t I?” Jaden said quietly.</p><p>Sheppard sighed, “If this were anyone else in another situation, then yes, you would be expelled. However, we have had some new... evidence come to light.”</p><p>“New evidence?”</p><p>Sheppard nodded, “Ms. Rhodes and Mr. Huffington also came forward to tell me their sides of the story concerning what happened last night. Mr. Spitzer also told us about how you saved him and how he was paid to kidnap Ms. Rhodes in an attempt to scare you. On top of that, Syrus provided us with some video footage from your last duel catching something Ms. Rhodes said about your duel against Mr. Princeton in the promotion exams being rigged against you. It is clear that you are being harassed by members of the staff here, so we decided to give you a chance to stay.”</p><p><em>In other words, you know that I have enough evidence to sue you guys for harassment if you try to expel me and want to give me a chance to screw up out of my own accord before kicking me out,</em> Jaden nodded, “What’s the catch?”</p><p>“We have to participate in a tag duel,” Syrus sighed. “If we win, we stay. If we lose, we get kicked out.”</p><p>“There is also another ‘catch’ as you called it,” Sheppard said. “I reviewed the footage of your duel with Mr. Spitzer, courtesy of Syrus, and decided to extend to him a position here at Duel Academy. I believe that there are many students that would benefit from the Dueltainer career path being added to our curriculum. While it’s more popular at the Academy in America, it’ll be a path where students who wish to pursue careers in the performing arts can learn to integrate their dueling into their performances. Of course, we have to get him a new deck since his old one was lost in the Abandoned Dorm. In the event that you do lose, I will still write a letter of recommendation and help you both get into one of the other academy sites as a thank you for getting us a new teacher.”</p><p><em>And somewhere Yuya is laughing it up,</em> Jaden gave a weak smile before coughing a few times into her hand. “Don’t worry Chancellor Sheppard, we won’t let you down!”</p><p>Sheppard smiled as he stood up from his seat by Jaden’s bed, “That’s good to hear. Unfortunately, you and Syrus will be suspended from class until this all blows over, but there are many people who are willing to pick up your assignments for you and I was able to pull some strings to get someone to help tutor you.”</p><p>“So much for a free vacation,” Jaden joked.</p><p>Sheppard smiled and ruffled Jaden’s hair, “Don’t get too excited. I still have to report this to your parents.”</p><p>Jaden immediately blanched.</p><hr/><p>Syrus looked downtrodden as he lost to Jaden for a fifth time in a row. While Jaden could not participate in duels requiring the use of a Duel Disk due to doctor’s orders, she could still participate in table top duels.</p><p>This worked a bit to help raise Jaden’s spirits, so she decided that she and Syrus were going to practice dueling as much as possible until the big day. </p><p>“Hey Syrus, are you okay? This is the closest you’ve gotten to beating me, so what’s wrong?”</p><p>Syrus looked away, “You wouldn’t understand Jaden.”</p><p>Jaden raised an eyebrow before snatching Syrus’ cards from his hand. She was taken back to see that a Power Bond was in his hand.</p><p>“Dude, you got Power Bond! That’s an awesome card to have in your deck. You would have beaten me if you used it!”</p><p>Syrus shook his head as he took back his cards, “My brother said that I’m not good enough to use it, and I’ll probably never be. I should save us the trouble and drop out already, I’ll only bring you down!”</p><p>Syrus packed up his things and ran out of the room, ignoring his friend’s calls and not paying attention to Alexis as she stood outside the doorway, the Obelisk girl holding a lunch box from the school general store.</p><p>Alexis poked her head into the doorway, “Hey Jaden, I have a delivery from Ms. Dorothy. Lots of greens and protein for you, but no fried shrimp for a while. Doctor’s orders and all.”</p><p>Jaden smiled weakly and took the lunch box from Alexis, “Thanks Lex, this is a good break from what I have to choose from in here.”</p><p>Alexis smiled before looking towards the door, “I guess practice doesn't always make for perfect, at least not when it's with Syrus it seems.”</p><p>Jaden swallowed a mouthful of spinach before answering. “I don't get it; he's such a cool guy. I wish you could just see what I see. The only thing that's holding him back is himself. I mean, he had this primo card all set to play but he didn’t use it and you know why? It’s because some brother of his said not to use it and that he’s not good enough to use it.”</p><p>Alexis gasped when Jaden held up a card Syrus had left behind.</p><p>Jaden blinked a few times in confusion, “What is it Alexis? Am I missing something?”</p><p><em>Dammit Zane,</em> Alexis sighed. “Yeah. That brother of his goes to this school and you've probably heard of him too.”</p><p>“What are you talking about?”</p><p>“Hello, Obelisk Blue senior and Number One duelist at the academy? He's the big man on campus, Zane Truesdale, and he really is as good as his reputation. Everyone says that he’s going to be the Obelisk representative for the Graduations Duels this year.”</p><p>“Yeah, but he doesn't sound like he’s good to his brother. I don’t know what happened between them, but I’ll duel it out of him if it’s the last thing I do!”</p><p>Alexis pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, “Jaden, you’re not listening to me! Nobody messes with Zane, not even Chazz has the balls to mess with him! He isn’t some run of the mill duelist that’s all bark and no bite, he has the power to back up the reputation! On top of that, he’s Sheppard’s apprentice and heir to the Cyber Legacy Style of dueling.”</p><p>Jaden nodded, her smile growing, “All the more reason to want to duel him! I want to see how I stack up!”</p><p>Alexis bit back a groan and massaged her temples. Jaden was starting to sound just like Atticus when the older boy became determined to befriend Zane all those years ago. It worked of course, but that was a different set of circumstances.</p><p>“Yeah well, you won’t be seeing much of him since you’re stuck here for the next few days.”</p><p>“...Dammit!”</p><p>Alexis and Jaden both jumped when they heard a knock at the door. Getting up from her chair, Alexis walked over and opened the door to find a rather familiar face behind it.</p><p>“Zane, what are you doing here?”</p><p>“The Chancellor is cashing in a favor,” he sighed. Looking over to Jaden, the taller boy walked over to the beside. “You must be Jaden Yuki. My name is Zane Truesdale. Chancellor Sheppard asked me to tutor you until your tag match.”</p><p><em>Well speak of the devil and he shall appear,</em> Jaden thought as the Obelisk third year sat down and got out his books.</p><hr/><p>“Alexis told me about what happened by the way, in the abandoned dorm,” Zane said near the end of the tutoring session.</p><p>Jaden flinched before nodding, “Yeah, I bet she did. I can only guess that you and her brother were good friends from the pictures we found in Yusuke’s old room.”</p><p>Zane’s eyes narrowed at the mention of his other missing friend. “So? What else did you find? I have a suspicion that your bedrest isn’t because of a cold, Jaden.”</p><p>“Yeah well, colds and stuff like low iron levels tend to hit people without spleens a little bit harder than the normal person.” Jaden said as she raised an eyebrow, “Besides, why should I tell you? Why don’t you ask your brother; he was there too, you know?”</p><p>Zane grit his teeth and made to pack up his things when Jaden held up her deck.</p><p>“I heard you were the strongest duelist on campus, so I’ve been wanting a shot at you for a while now. How about we have a duel? You win, I tell you everything. I win, you get your news from Syrus. Either way, you’ll get the info you want one way or another.”</p><p>“I thought you couldn’t use a Duel Disk.”</p><p>“Tabletop is still a thing, you know. Besides, either way you still will get the info you want. I know that there is no way that Sheppard or anyone on the staff will clue you in given the circumstances.”</p><p>Zane thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, “I’ll do it, but don’t complain when you lose. Though I have to admit, it’s been a while since I had a tabletop duel.”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she shuffled her deck while Zane set up the small table Jaden and Syrus had been using earlier. Taking out their calculators, Jaden and Zane recorded their Life Point count.</p><p>
  <strong>Zane:  4000</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000</strong>
</p><p>Zane set his deck down and gestured to Jaden, “Ladies first.”</p><p>“Well thank you,” Jaden chirped as she drew a card and placed it on the table, “Okay, I summon Elemental HERO Avian in Attack Mode (1000/1000). Then, I set one card face down and end my turn.”</p><p>Zane nodded and drew a card, “Since you control a monster and I do not, I can Special Summon my Cyber Dragon (2100/1600) from my hand in Attack Mode. Then, I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down card.”</p><p>Jaden shrugged and placed her formerly face down Trap Card in the Graveyard section of her side of the table.</p><p>“I’m not done yet. Next, I attack your Elemental Hero Avian.”</p><p>Jaden pouted as she moved Avian to the Graveyard and did the math.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  4000 - 1100 = 2900</strong>
</p><p>"Now, I activate the Spell card, Different Dimension Capsule. It allows me to pick any card from my deck," Zane continued as he placed his Spell Card then began looking through his deck for a specific card. "Then, I remove this card from play and then in two turns, I get to bring it back and put it right into my hand."</p><p>“Thank you for having shorter turns than Chazz,” Jaden said as she drew a card, “I activate Polymerization and fuse Elemental HERO Sparkman (1600/1400) and Elemental HERO Clayman (800/2000) from my hand to summon Elemental HERO Thunder Giant (2400/1500).”</p><p>Jaden dug through her extra deck for the desired fusion card as she moved Sparkman, Clayman, and Polymerization to the Graveyard. “Next, I activate Thunder Giant’s effect. When he gets summoned to the field, I can target one monster whose original attack points are lower than Thunder Giant’s and destroy it.”</p><p>Zane nodded and put his Cyber Dragon in the Graveyard.</p><p>“Now, I attack you directly and play one face down card.”</p><p>Zane did not look at his calculator as he did the math.</p><p>
  <strong>Zane:  4000 - 2400 = 1600</strong>
</p><p>Zane drew another card, “Since I do not control any monsters, I summon another Cyber Dragon (2100/1600) in Attack Mode. Next, I play Monster Reborn and summon the only monster in my Graveyard, my first Cyber Dragon. Then, I play Polymerization and summon my Cyber Twin Dragon (2800/2100). I also activate its special effect, which allows me to attack twice in one turn.”</p><p>“In that case, I activate my face down card, A Hero Emerges!” Jaden said as she flipped over her card. “Now normally, you would have to pick a card from my hand and if it’s a monster, I would get to summon it. Thing is, I only have one card, so I summon Wroughtweiler (800/1200) in Defense Mode.”</p><p>“I still destroy both your monsters and you still take 400 points of damage,” Zane pointed out as Jaden moved her cards.</p><p>
  <strong>Jaden:  2900 - 400 = 2500</strong>
</p><p>“I know, but I will still have some to spare for a while. Oh, and thanks to Wroughtweiler’s special effect, I can add one Elemental HERO and one Polymerization to my hand from my Graveyard,” Jaden took her desired cards and added them back to her hand. “I got to admit, I’m having fun. You’re rather good Zane!”</p><p>Zane gave a small smile. Sure, the girl in front of him was a first year, but it was nice dueling someone who wasn’t trying to prove something by playing some sort of half-baked mind game or getting themselves too twisted up in an elaborate strategy, “Well, you’re not too bad yourself.”</p><p>Jaden drew a card and played it, “I summon Elemental HERO Bubbleman (800/1200) in Defense Mode, and since he’s the only monster on my side of the field, I get to draw two more cards.”</p><p>Jaden looked at the cards she had drawn, Transcendent Wings and Winged Kuriboh. Suddenly, Transcendent Wings rippled and turned into Mirror Force.</p><p>
  <em>Wait what the HELL-</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Don’t you even think about playing that combo.</em> </strong>
</p><p><em>But Haou, this is</em> cheating<em>-</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>And I don’t exactly care, it’s not a duel for a grade or official tournament. He would see that combo coming a mile away since word has spread about how you beat Chazz. </em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Dad would skin me alive if he found out about this!</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Just trust me and hold out for a bit. Besides, if he loses here then you get a chance to duel him again. Besides, you want to help Syrus, don’t you?</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>That’s true but still…</em>
</p><p>
  <strong> <em>You’re focusing too much on using a card rather than playing a card. What was that lesson about playing your cards right again?</em> </strong>
</p><p>“Hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good,” Zane said.</p><p>Jaden shook her head, “Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve dueled tabletop myself. I’m not used to having time to think through things.”</p><p>Zane raised an eyebrow but decided not to ask questions.</p><p>“Okay, so I play Polymerization and fuse Clayman and Bubbleman to summon Elemental HERO Mudballman (1900/3000) in Defense Mode. Then, I place one card face down and end my turn,” Jaden said as she moved her cards around on the field to reflect her declaration. <em>I hope you’re right Haou.</em></p><p>
  <strong> <em>Of course I’m sure. I’m absolutely flawless, and this guy needs the stick removed from his ass and to get taken down a peg.</em> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>I think that everyone we know would beg to differ on the flawless remark.</em>
</p><p>Zane drew a card, “Since it’s been two turns since I first activated Different Dimension Capsule, so I get to take back the card I removed from play and add it to my hand. You played well Jaden, but not well enough.”</p><p>Jaden smirked, “Give me your best shot!”</p><p>“Oh, I intend to,” Zane said before giving Jaden the briefest of smirks. “I’ve got to admit, you play your cards pretty well. A true duelist knows not just how to use all of their cards but to play them too, and you play your cards well Jaden.”</p><p>Jaden smiled, “Thanks Zane, that’s some pretty nice advice.”</p><p>Zane placed a card in his Spell/Trap Zone, “I activate Defusion and split my Cyber Dragons back into two separate monsters. Next, I'll activate the power of Power Bond. With this spell, I'm allowed to summon a Machine-Type Fusion Monster and with another Cyber Dragon in my hand as well, I can now fuse the three of them together to create the Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800). On top of that, it’s attack points are doubled to 8000 thanks to Power Bonds effect."</p><p>Jaden whistled as Zane set down his monster, “That’s pretty good Zane.”</p><p>“Oh, it gets better Jaden. Thanks to Cyber End Dragon’s special effect, you take damage equal to the difference between my Monster's Attack Points and your Monster's Defense Points. So, I attack Mudballman with Cyber End Dragon.”</p><p>Jaden winced, “Yeah, about that…”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Jaden flipped her face down, “I activate Mirror Force. Cyber End Dragon is destroyed.”</p><p>Zane froze for a few seconds as he stared down at the field. Looking at his hand, Zane saw that he only had an Equip Spell in his hand. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Zane moved his Cyber End Dragon to the Graveyard. “I take it you’re going to switch Mudballman's position and attack me?”</p><p>“...Yeah, that’s the plan. Looks like I win?”</p><p>“...Beginners luck,” Zane said as he finished packing up his stuff. “I’ll still honor our deal, Jaden. I’ll talk to Syrus about what happened. Just... get some rest.”</p><p>Jaden nodded as she collected her deck and put it away, “Thanks Zane. Just, try not to be too hard on him? He means well.”</p><p>Zane rolled his eyes as he walked out the door.</p><p>
  <em>It was just beginner’s luck, that’s all. So why do I feel so angry?</em>
</p><hr/><p>Syrus tried not to cry as he wrung his hair dry. He was found by Chumley trying to row out to sea on a raft, but the raft fell apart and he almost drowned… in a shallow tide pool. With his name on the blacklist for travel by other means of transportation on the island, he would not be leaving anytime soon.</p><p>Syrus jumped and tried not to shriek as a knock came from the door. </p><p>Opening the door, Syrus just about jumped out of his skin when he saw Zane at his doorway.</p><p>“...Good evening Syrus. There is something I want to ask you about.”</p><p>“Y-yeah, sure. Come on in…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Of Fathers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was only three days until the Tag Team Duel and Syrus was a mess. Sure, Jaden was out of the infirmary and back in the dorms and they practiced whenever Bastion or Alexis were not hounding them about missed work and between deck building lessons Jaden gave the other Slifers, but his nerves were making it almost impossible to focus on anything other than how he could fail Jaden. He had been having nightmares every night about the two of them losing, about Jaden reaching out and asking why he failed her, of his brother gloating about his victory over the two Slifer Red students.</p><p>“I don’t know what’s worse Jay, the fact that we could get kicked out, or the fact that we could be dueling against people out of our league,” Syrus muttered as he leaned against a tree.</p><p>Jaden looked over to her former roommate from where she was laying down on the grass, “I think that the worst thing is that our parents and the heads of the academy locations will be there too.”</p><p>Syrus froze as his brain processed that bit of information before jumping up in surprise, “What do you mean our parents will be there?”</p><p>Jaden sat up and looked at Syrus in confusion, “Yeah, since we’re minors our parents have to sign all sorts of paperwork if we get expelled since we’re in international waters and all. Not only that, but the entrance exams for Duel Academy Central are tougher than the other locations so they might send representatives to try and poach us afterwards since we were good enough to make it into Central in the first place.”</p><p>Syrus whined before sinking to the ground in embarrassment. “My parents are going to kill me if I get kicked out! The annual tuition is nonrefundable or transferable to the other campuses!”</p><p>Jaden gave a long-suffering sigh as she flopped back into the grass, “I have no doubt that Uncle J will either drag Uncle T with him or do something to embarrass me in general, win or lose.”</p><p>“You have more than one Uncle?”</p><p>Jaden nodded, “I have like eight uncles and four aunts. I was raised in a sorta communal setting rather than a nuclear family for the first few years of my life, but legally I only have two parents.”</p><p>“Boss, hey Boss!”</p><p>Jaden and Syrus looked over to see Brandon, one of the other first year Slifers, running up to them. While Brandon could be a bit of a kiss-ass, he was still a good guy at heart and at the moment he looked a little frazzled.</p><p>“Hey Brandon, what’s up?”</p><p>Brandon took a couple of deep breaths before delivering the news, “It’s Chumley’s Dad! He’s here and he wants to take Chumley away!”</p><p>“Wait, WHAT?”</p><hr/><p>“What’s going on here guys?”</p><p>A few of the Slifer students were crowding around the cracked door to Dr. Banner’s room/office but made room for Jaden and Syrus as they approached.</p><p>“Rio, report,” Jaden stated bluntly.</p><p>Rio straightened up saluted, “Well Boss, it’s like Brandon said. Chumley’s Dad wants to pull him out of Duel Academy and have him join the family business.”</p><p>“And the family business is?”</p><p>“Alcohol. Chumley’s Dad runs a sake distillery. Chumley’s mom also comes from a family that owns a good number of vineyards, so alcohol processing in the main family business. Given Ms. Huffington’s legacy for coming from a well-known wine family, Chumley’s Dad took on her last name to help with international sales.”</p><p>“Thank you, Rio.”</p><p>Leaning forward, Jaden and Syrus listened in as Dr. Banner talked with Chumley’s father.</p><p>Kumazo Huffington was a large man, but unlike his son he had a more muscular build and had a bit of a worker’s tan. The man sat a low table across from Banner, his arms crossed.</p><p>“-I mean don’t get me wrong; if Chumley was any good at dueling it would be one thing but clearly he’s not. He’s wasting his time here. It’s time for him to give up dueling and come back home.”</p><p>Banner cleared his throat, “I see your point. Chumley is a bit, well, eh hehehe…”</p><p><em>Wow Banner, way to support your students, </em>the Slifers thought as they watched their Dorm Head flub through the conversation.</p><p>“He’s a bit dense, you can say it.” Kumazo said bluntly before hitting the table, “That’s why I want to bring him into the family business, the alcohol business, sake in particular. You do like a drink or two, right?”</p><p>Banner coughed into his hand, “Yes well, I try not to indulge too much during the school year, but I do enjoy a drink or two during celebrations and such.”</p><p>“In that case, here, have a free sample,” Kumazo said and he put a large bottle onto the table. “Think of it as a farewell gift from me and Chumley.”</p><p>Banner panicked, hoping that his students would not see him with the alcohol and get the wrong idea.</p><p>Not wanting to watch anymore, Jaden dragged Syrus upstairs to the room the shorter boy and Chumley shared. Upon opening the door, the duo saw Chumley tearfully packing up his bags.</p><p>“Chumley,” Jaden said sadly as she put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Chumley flinched and looked over at Jaden, his tears now falling. </p><p>"I never really wanted to seriously become a duelist you know," Chumley said as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "I've actually always wanted to design Duel Monsters cards, but you probably saw my Dad. He would never support a dream like that, so I lied and said that I wanted to be a champion duelist like him so I could come to Duel Academy and choose my track, but I’ve already repeated the same year twice. I wanted to give up, but it's all different now because I have a special power now; I can hear Duel Spirits."</p><p>“Really? How nice,” Syrus deadpanned.</p><p>Jaden patted Chumley on his shoulder with a smile, “Aw sweet, now I got a Spirit Buddy! So, did you tell your Dad about this?”</p><p>Chumely shook his head, “He would never listen to me anyway! To him, it’s all about booze, booze, and more booze! The family business always comes first!”</p><p>Jaden grit her teeth before lifting Chumley up by his collar, “C’mon, we got to see the Chancellor. Grab your sketchbook.”</p><p>“Jaden just how strong are you?”</p><p>“Just ask Jesse next time he calls.”</p><p>"...That right there is a loaded statement."</p><hr/><p>“...And that’s the whole story. As you can see, Chumley has a gift!”</p><p>Kumazo rolled his eyes as Jaden handed Chumley’s sketchbook back to his son at the end of her little presentation, “Yeah, a real gift for eating grilled cheese! Just who are you anyway, missy?”</p><p>“My name is Jaden Yuki. I’m a Slifer Red just like your son.”</p><p>Syrus nodded, “A-and I’m Syrus Truesdale. I’m Chumley’s roommate!”</p><p>Sheppard sighed and leaned back in his chair, “I appreciate you kids sticking up for your roommate, but you need to understand that this is a family affair. It’s not your business.”</p><p>“But sir-”</p><p>Kumazo smirked, “Listen to your Chancellor, kiddo. This is a family matter, which is why I propose a duel. Father versus Son. If Chumley is as gifted as his friends say then he should have no problem actually impressing me in a duel, but if he fails to show that he’s not the same as that sniveling little first-year I remember him to be, he comes home. Got it?”</p><hr/><p>Chumley groaned as he looked over his deck, “This is hopeless. Dad has been our region’s Duel Champion for three years in a row! He knows he’s gonna win this no matter what!”</p><p>“Really? I think it’s because you got nothing but koala’s in your deck,” Jaden said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. They’re cute and all and I have no room to talk since I like my E-Heroes, but is there a way for you to win with just koalas?”</p><p>Syrus perked up before walking over to the bottom bunk of the bed in the room and taking out a box, “I’m sure that we can find something in here to help!”</p><p>Jaden smiled as she stood up, “I think I have some spares in my room too! Dad sent them when he heard about the tag duel! Be right back!”</p><p>Syrus and Chumley went through the spare cards as they waited for Jaden, trying to beef up Chumley’s deck before the big duel the next day.</p><p>“If there is something Jaden knows how to do, it’s deck build. She’s been doing it for everyone in the dorm lately,” Syrus said. “Apparently, she helps out at a game store. Whenever people have cards they don’t want and throw away, the shop owner retrieves them and gives them to Jaden. She has stuff from when Duel Monsters was still called Monsters and Wizards!”</p><p>Chumley nodded in awe. If Jaden had stuff from when Pegasus first took over as chairman of Industrial Illusions and created the modern version of the game, she could surely help!</p><p>Suddenly, the door was kicked in, “I’m back!”</p><p>Chumley turned around to see Jaden holding at least ten long boxes worth of cards and a few dueling manuals, “...Jaden, how many of those boxes do you own?”</p><p>“A lot, but when I was getting a few I was thinking that we could make your deck an Australia deck, but then I got hit with some inspiration! Also, I thought we could help Syrus beef up his deck for the tag duel.”</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>“And by inspiration you mean Haou yelling at you.”</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Not now Yubel!</em>
</p><p>Syrus and Chumley immediately perked up.</p><p>Unknown to them, Kumazo was watching and hearing everything from the first floor. With a sigh, he walked back to his borrowed room. </p><p>“Y’know Chumley, you really do have some great friends.”</p><hr/><p>Come morning, Chumley and his father met in the Slifer Red Duel Arena with Banner, Jaden, and Syrus as witnesses. The room was small, about the size of the Slifer Red canteen, with tatami mats and hanging scrolls making it seem more like a dojo than an arena. </p><p>Banner, Syrus, and Jaden sat kneeling on the floor in what would be the sidelines section of the dojo.</p><p>Banner clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention, “Alright. Chumley, Mr. Huffington, you both know what the stakes are for this duel. If Chumley wins, he gets to stay in school. However, if he fails to meet your expectations, he has to go back home.”</p><p>Kumazo smirked as he activated his Duel Disk, “My word is by bond. I’m not going to go back on it.”</p><p>Chumley readied his disk as well, “Bring it!”</p><p>“Jaden if you would please,” Banner said.</p><p><em>Why do I get the feeling the school is trying to turn me into the dorm’s mascot?</em> Jaden stood up and took out a larger than normal coin from her pocket. On one side there was the imprint of Slifer the Sky Dragon, the other side was blank red. Showing off the coin, Jaden spoke to the duelists, “Will the challenger please call a side!”</p><p>“Tails!” Kumazo called out.</p><p>Tossing the coin in the air, the disc of metal flipped a few times and landed on the ground, dragon side up. “It’s landed on Heads. Chumley goes first.”</p><p>Banner nodded before throwing up an arm, “Alright then gentlemen, without further ado let’s begin the duel!”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  4000</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  4000</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Chumley drew a card, “Alright, I summon Des Koala (1100/1800) Defense Mode.”</p><p>A brown koala with a pouch and mouth full of leaves appeared on the field.</p><p>“Alright, go Chumley!” Jaden cheered.</p><p>“Do your best!” Syrus added.</p><p>Kumazo raised an eyebrow at the new Beast monster on Chumley’s side of the field. He knew that Chumley was getting some extra help, but he did not know that Chumley was completely deviating from what he heard the previous night.</p><p>Smirking, the older man drew a card, “Alright, I summon Dizzy Tiger (1800/600) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>A bipedal tiger holding a sake bottle appeared on the field in a puff of sake fumes.</p><p>Jaden and Syrus blinked at each other before looking back onto the field. They had heard about appearances being deceiving, but this was taking it to another level!</p><p>Kumazo pointed to Des Koala, “I play the Spell Card Raigeki and destroy all the monsters on your side of the field! And since it’s by card effect, your Des Koala goes to the Graveyard as well. Nice try with the Flip Effect, Chumley!”</p><p>Bujingi Wolf and Des Koala both disappeared in a flash of lightning, leaving Chumley defenseless. </p><p>“Now, I attack you directly with Dizzy Tiger! Go, Dizzy Sake Slap!”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  2200</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  4000</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Chumley covered his nose as a cloud of sake assaulted his sense, “Oh God it’s strong!”</p><p>Jaden covered her nose as well. The scent was strong and was giving her a headache.</p><p>Syrus panicked as he remembered a few articles he had read during Jaden’s infirmary stay, “Let me know if your lack of spleen starts messing with you Jay! I heard alcohol is bad for people in your case!” </p><p>“Come on, give me something good!” Chumley grumbled as he drew a card, another Des Koala. “Okay, here I go. Since a Beast-Type monster I control was sent to the Graveyard, I pay 1000 Life Points to Special Summon Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest (2600 / 1800) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>A large green primate holding a club roared as it appeared on the field.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  1200</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  4000</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Stupid move son. You just put yourself as a disadvantage!”</p><p>“I’m not done yet! I play the Spell Card Koala March. This card lets me summon one Koala monster from my Graveyard as long as it's a level four or below. Since I have only one Koala monster in my Graveyard, I summon my Des Koala back. On top of that, I’m allowed to summon another Koala monster from my hand as long as it has the same name, so I summon another Des Koala to the field!”</p><p>Two koalas appeared on the field, glaring at their opponent.</p><p>Kumazo smiled, “Not bad, you managed to get three monsters on the field in one turn.”</p><p>“I’m not done yet. I sacrifice both of my Des Koala’s in order to summon Big Koala (2700/2000) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>The two small koalas disappeared and were replaced by a large blue koala.</p><p>Banner smiled and nodded, “I think I know where this is going.”</p><p>Jaden smirked, “Same here.”</p><p>Syrus blinked in surprise, “Wait, he just sacrificed the chance to have two Flip effect monsters!”</p><p>Chumley pointed at his Dad, “First, I’ll have Green Baboon Defender of the Forest attack Dizzy Tiger. Then, I’ll have Big Koala attack your Life Points directly!”</p><p>The three spectators winced as Green Baboon roared and smashed Dizzy Tiger over the head, effectively destroying him. Then they watched as Kumazo looked unfazed by the giant koala punching him in a direct attack.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  1200</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  1300</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Alright Chumley, you’re almost there!” Syrus cheered.</p><p>Jaden nodded in agreement, “Yup, he’s making waves!”</p><p>Kumazo smirked as he drew a card, “Not bad Chumley, not bad at all, but I have to agree with your little friend about having two effect monsters. Then again, they wouldn’t help you this time around. I summon my ultimate weapon, Dizzy Angel (1800/400), in Attack Mode!”</p><p>An angel in a white suit with a black hat leaped onto the field, swinging around a bottle and dancing.</p><p>Everyone sans Banner and Kumazo blinked in disbelief.</p><p>“How is that an ultimate weapon?” Chumley asked, confused at how such a goofy looking card could be his father’s ultimate weapon. <em>Then again, Jaden threw off Chazz by calling her WInged Kuriboh her ultimate weapon too. Maybe he’s just trying to throw me off.</em></p><p>Dizzy Angel then did a double take as he spotted Jaden, <strong><em>“Hey there cutie? Wanna get a drink with me?”</em></strong></p><p>
  <em>...That’s it.  Forget trying to talk with spirits, the drunk is dead.</em>
</p><p>Since Chumley was focusing on the duel, he did not notice Winged Kuriboh appearing and puffing up in anger behind Jaden.</p><p>Kumazo smirked as he played another card, impressed with the sudden fire in Chumley’s eyes, “Next, I play the Spell Card, Sake Bottle!”</p><p>Dizzy Angel stopped his dancing to stare at the bottle of sake that had appeared and started reaching for it</p><p>“Next, I play the Spell Card Flipping the Table!”</p><p>Chumley looked around as a giant table appeared underneath him and the rest of the battle ground, a strong cloud of alcohol fumes filling the air.</p><p>Jaden’s face reddened as she leaned against Syrus, who was also starting to develop a flush.</p><p>Chumley looked over to his friend in worry, “Jay, on a scale of one to Jean-Claude Magnum, how do you feel?”</p><p>Jaden shot him a thumbs up. “Toaster.”</p><p>“...Still coherent, that’s good enough!”</p><p>“Enough chit-chat!” Kumazo gripped the table and flipped it over, destroying Dizzy Angel, the Sake Bottle, and Chumley’s sent monsters spinning. </p><p>“Flipping the Table lets me clear off the field by destroying not only my monsters, but the same amount of monsters you control as well. Since I only have one on my field, I guess it’s just a game of chance to see which one of yours gets destroyed.”</p><p>Chumley’s monsters flipped a few times before Green shattered, leaving only Big Koala.</p><p>Kumazo sighed, “That’s one monster down; I bet you regret sacrificing your Life Points now without a backup plan, don’t you?”</p><p>Chumley grit his teeth, “You’re always like this! Every time you hear something you don’t like, you trash it!”</p><p>Kumazo laughed before pointing to his son, “Before I forget, Sake Bottle also has a Special Effect when used with Flipping the Table; I get to inflict 500 points of damage straight to you for each bottle. On top of that, I activate Dizzy Angel’s Special Effect:  he can’t be destroyed by Flipping the Table so he gets to come back to my field!”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  700</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  1300</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Knowing that Dizzy Angel could not attack his Big Koala and come out on top, Chumley drew a card to signal his turn. Looking over to Jaden, Chumley swore to end the duel as quickly as possible.</p><p>“Then I place one card face down and end my turn,” Kumazo snorted as he looked from Jaden to Chumley, “You might want to hurry it up or your friend might get worse! If a hearty girl like her can’t stomach some fumes, then she has no business in your life, son!”</p><p>Chumley blinked at the implication before blushing, “Jaden’s not my girlfriend, she already has a totally cool boyfriend from overseas  that I’m proud to call my friend too! And you know what, just for that you can go stick your sake-”</p><p>“Whoa, lighten up there Chumley! He’s trying to get a rise out of you!” Banner said as he waved off the last of the fumes away from a half-conscious Jaden.</p><p>“I know!” Chumley said, looking down at his deck. <em>Please, let me end this quickly!</em></p><p>“Oh God, Jaden!”</p><p>Chumley’s neck nearly snapped as he looked over to Jaden, who was flushed, passed out, and breathing harder than usual. Looking at his deck, Chumley drew a card, “I’ll finish this up quick, Sy! I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards!”</p><p>Looking at the two new cards in his hand, Chumley fought down the urge to crow in victory, “Next, I play Des Kangaroo (1500/1700) in Attack Mode!”</p><p>A green kickboxing kangaroo appeared on the field.</p><p>Chumley smiled as he then took another card from his hand, “Next, I play Polymerization and fuse the Big Koala I still have left with Des Kangaroo in order to summon the Master of Oz (4200/3700)!”</p><p>Big Koala and Des Kangaroo disappeared in a swirl, only to be replaced by a green kangaroo-koala hybrid with boxing gloves.</p><p>Kumazo’s eyes widened at the sight of the card. <em>Those were all some of the cards his friends gave him. I wonder how he’ll use them.</em></p><p>“Now, I attack Dizzy Angel with Master of Oz! Say good-bye to your Life Points, Dad!”</p><p>*Kumazo smirked and revealed his face down card, “Not so fast Chumley. I activate the Trap Card Divine Wind. Not only does this negate your attack, but it sends it back at double the power!”</p><p>Chumley swallowed hard and Master of Oz was engulfed in a whirlwind and sent back flying at him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chumley:  0</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Kumazo:  1300</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Winner:  Kumazo Huffington</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Immediately turning off his Duel Disk as soon as his Life Points hit 0, Chumley ran over to his fallen friend and picked her up, “I’ll take her back to the infirmary! Syrus, call ahead and let Ms. Fontaine know that we’re coming!”</p><p>Kumazo reached out to his son, “Chumley, wait-”</p><p>Before anything else could be said, Chumley was out the door running with his friend in his arms.</p><hr/><p>Fonda sighed as she handed the now bedridden Chumley a glass of water. The larger boy had done a good deed in bringing his sick friend to the infirmary, but he had forgotten the limits of his body and nearly passed out when his adrenaline had dropped back to normal.</p><p>“The good news is that Jaden will be alright. I gave her some medicine and she just needs to sleep it off. You, young man, nearly made yourself sick! I understand that you wanted to help your friend but just call next time and we can send someone to pick her up.”</p><p>Chumley wheezed and gave the nurse a thumbs up before flopping back onto the bed he was using.</p><p>Fonda gave both of the students a fond smile before walking out of the room, only to be met with the entirety of the Slifer Red dorm, Banner, and Mr. Huffington.</p><p>“Will Chumley be okay?”</p><p>“Is Jaden okay too?”</p><p>“C’mon, the Bosses have to be okay!”</p><p>“Is my son and his friend alright?”</p><p>Everyone stopped talking and turned to Kumazo, who genuinely looked concerned.</p><p>“My son and his friend; are they alright?” he asked again.</p><p>Fonda blinked a few times before nodding, “Chumley just worked his body more than what it is used to, and Jaden just needs to sleep off whatever caused her to faint. Seriously though, I understand that Kaiba Corp wants to make things as realistic as possible, but this is ridiculous!”</p><p>Kumazo nodded, “That’s great to hear… y’know, Chumley never had friends growing up. Seeing all of you here to support him is just… thank you.”</p><p>Kumazo reached into his pocket and handed Banner a letter, “Make sure Chumley gets this when he can be released. I’m heading home.”</p><p>Banner sputtered a bit, “B-but sir! I thought you said you would take Chumley home if he didn’t change!”</p><p>“I know what I said,” Kumazo responded. “Chumley was so focused on getting his friend some help that he rushed and lost. He didn’t hesitate for a second, and I liked that. He’s changed, so he gets to stay.”</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Dear son,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There is more to school than just your studies. While you may have not made some great grades there, you made some great friends. To me, that’s reason enough for you to stay. Try to call home more, your mom misses you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>-Dad</em>
</p><p>
  <em>P.S. I hope your friend feels better. Keep an eye on her.</em>
</p><hr/><p>“So, she’s doing better? That’s great. Thanks for the update.”</p><p>Seto hung up his phone with a sigh. Jaden was going to be the death of him one day, he was sure of it.</p><p>Standing up from his desk in his home office, Seto leaned against the window frame. Ever since he was forced to come back from the afterlife following his final duel with Atem, he had been getting flashes of his so-called past life in the Pharaoh’s court. Ever since Jaden started attending Duel Academy, they had been getting worse.</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t die, Ankhesenamun! You’re all we have left of the Pharaoh! You’re all we have left of Atem!”</em>
</p><p>Gritting his teeth, Seto turned away from the window and stalked off to bed.</p><hr/><p>Jaden stared at the box sitting on her bed in front of her. It was a fairly large box that was painted gold and covered in hieroglyphs to match the one her parents kept their decks in back home. Unlike their box, Jaden’s was made of standard 3D printer plastic. </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Are you sure you want to trust Syrus with this responsibility already?</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>I don’t have a choice at this point. I think this might be the push he needs for the duel, along with some other cards of course.</em>
</p><p>Opening the box, Jaden swallowed the lump in her throat as she took out a one-of-a-kind set of cards that Pegasus had given her years ago:  The Legendary Planets.</p><p>The Legendary Planets all corresponded with one of the major bodies of the Solar System, the Sun and Pluto included. With the exception of the Earth-based card, the Fusion monster Elemental Hero Terra Firma, all the other cards were main deck monsters with killer effects if used correctly.</p><p>They were also the spirits of Haou’s Top Generals prior to her death at the hands of her people due to false pretenses.</p><p>Searching through the small stack, Jaden pulled out the card that resonated with her the minute she met the younger Truesdale:  The Big Saturn.</p><p>Jaden was then brought out of her thoughts by a knock at the infirmary door.</p><p>“Hey Jay, it’s Syrus. I brought the Machine and Warrior card boxes you wanted from your room. Can I come in?”</p><p>Jaden smirked as her eyes flashed green and orange for a brief second, “Come on in Syrus. I have a surprise for you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>All names for the Slifer Red students here and in future chapters are from the Tag-Force games.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So here I am, with another fanfic that is a major overhaul rewrite of a cringing one I wrote years ago. I know I should be working on Shield Maiden, but this was something I wanted to get out there.</p>
<p>Also, I have made a secondary tumblr. Come talk to me on chibifoxwrites.tumblr.com when you get the chance!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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